ZKD: Fallen Angel
by Kamen Rider Chrome
Summary: Originally Written by Jazzpha but discontinued for unknown reasons. The story of a fallen angel as he joins the Titans and befriends them along with the Zodiac Knights.
1. Chapter 1

**A Fallen Angel, Chapter 1: By No Fault of His Own**

**Originally written by: Jazzpha**

**NOTE: The Teen Titans don't show up in this chapter, but they're in this fic by the end of Chapter 2. From then on, they have quite a lot of face-time. Trust me.**

* * *

Dmitri looked up from his book and sighed. His parents still weren't back yet, and the young angel was starting to worry. The meeting with the Tzarion Council shouldn't have taken this long unless something had gone horribly wrong, and Dmitri didn't even want to think along those lines. Sighing and cradling his head in his hands the youthful seraph, who looked to be about 19, looked back down at his book with his startlingly sharp gray eyes and kept reading.

It had been like this for a long time, about as long as Dmitri could remember. He had been sent off to be looked after by Ezekiel, the custodian of the Empyrean's libraries, a week after he had been born. Since then Dmitri had seen little of the Empyrean on the outside of the gilded walls, and even less of his parents. His father, Azrael, one of the greatest warriors in all of the Empyrean, had only graced his son with his presence once. When he had done so he had looked very sad and frustrated, as if he or his child had committed some grave sin. Dmitri's mother, Clara, one of the most beautiful angels to have ever been created, had also been weighed down with suffering of some kind, although Dmitri couldn't be sure what. Her flawless face was drawn with consternation so severe it made Dmitri's heart ache like few other things had before.

Shoving those thoughts aside, Dmitri dove back into his book once again, trying to replace the unease he felt creeping gradually into his soul with the fantastic adventures and wars of the angels of old. Michael, leader of the vanguard in the army that struck down Lucifer; Darian, the powerful arch-angel who had sealed the terrible demon Koroga away not once, not twice, but _three_ times before convincing the Kitsune that a loss was a loss. After that, neither Koroga nor his horde had ever harassed the halls of the Empyrean again. In fact, in a remarkable reversal, the Kitsune had fought by the side of the angels when the gargantuan Fenris Wolf and his two sons, Hati and Skoll, had come unchained from their iron bonds deep within the stomach of the underworld, craving vengeance. It seemed as though the nine-tailed fox demon was not without honor, and he felt indebted to Darian for sparing his life so many times. Dmitri found himself entranced by these stories, which he would have thought myths and legends if the angels within the pages weren't still alive in Dmitri's own time. Once again, however, the angel found himself yanked out of his comfortable little dream-world, although this time he didn't object: it was his girlfriend's musical voice calling out to him in greeting.

"Dmitri, are you going to pull your head out of the clouds and greet me or do I need to come over there and bring you down-to-earth myself?"

Dmitri only chuckled and got up, closing the book and looking at his girlfriend before pausing to admire her beauty. No matter how many times he saw her, she still looked like, well… an angel, but in a more metaphorical, spiritual sense.

White-silver hair flowed down to the small of her back, some of it falling in light bangs to frame her angular, majestic face which was made all the more compelling by the golden orbs of her eyes that shone with incredible radiance. She was wearing pure white leather leggings and a leather jerkin under a white robe that tapered out to be a cape. She was about 5' 10", and muscular but not overly developed; just enough that you could tell she was no shrinking violet despite her sometimes lithe and fragile appearance. Her ears also pointed up ever so slightly, which Dmitri found to be very interesting. As far as he had seen in terms of angels, no others had ever possessed pointed ears. His eyes had instinctively wandered at this point to her perfectly proportioned chest, and a half-joking half-annoyed cough was needed to jolt him out of his hormone-induced stupor.

"First off, I'm up here. Second, stop drooling like a hound-dog, you're embarrassing yourself."

Dmitri unhappily forced his eyes to make an arduous and painful exodus from the land of milk and honey up to the face of his girlfriend. After seeing the smile on her face, though, he decided it wasn't so bad.

"Alicia," he said, serious, "do I tell you enough just how beautiful you are?"

The angel blushed and flapped her snowy-white wings in small, coquettish beats, feigning an innocent school-girl type look.

"Aw, do you really think so?"

Dmitri chuckled and levitated over to Alicia before enveloping her in a loving embrace that lasted quite a few moments before he leaned away from her, looking distracted. Alicia knew something was wrong, and was resolved to know what had put her dearest Dmitri into such a funk.

"So what's gotten you all introspective all of a sudden?"

Dmitri snapped out of his far-off stare and looked at Alicia for a second like he hadn't heard what she had said before shrugging.

"It's just that, well, are we supposed to be this close? Emotionally, I mean. Isn't it some sort of sin?"

Alicia laughed at how innocent and naïve her boyfriend could be at times like this. Then again, she thought sadly, being locked up in here like a bird in a gilded cage 24/7 wasn't the best way to experience the outside world and learn about how it worked.

"Dmitri," she said, with the tone of a parent explaining the birds and the bees to their ignorant, still-innocent child, "if what we're doing is a sin, half the angel in the Empyrean would have been sent down to the infernal depths of the underworld by now for 'sinning'. The only really punishable offense would be actual sexual intercourse, and I don't think any angel has done that, _ever_."

Dmitri was puzzled even further by this statement, and cocked his head sideways like a curious cat. How could angels _sin_? That just didn't make much sense. Alicia laughed at the way he looked and sighed before continuing to explain.

"If you think what we're doing is bad, you should see the looks Lord Ashur shoots me every five minutes while he teaches me how to use a bow and arrow. I mean, you'd think he was in heat or something it's so blatantly obvious."

The male angel's expression changed dramatically, shifting from puzzlement to extreme jealousy. "If that old codger even _tries_ to touch you, I'll rip his fingers off myself!" His face twisted into the funniest 'angry-face' Alicia had ever seen, and she sputtered and giggled before hugging Dmitri tightly.

"That's my Dmitri," she said, her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder while his chin rested on her shoulder. Dmitri sighed and smiled more contently than a kid at Christmas. Could life get any better?

Probably not, but it could get worse; a lot worse, as a matter of fact.

"Dmitri! Come quick, child, there isn't a moment to lose!"

Ezekiel's solicitous voice echoed through the countless book-stacks, giving the two lovebirds more than enough time to spring apart before the librarian came into view. The horrified look on his face made Dmitri think he had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar, but it was in fact far more serious than that.

"Dmitri, my child, it's your parents… they've been _sentenced_!"

The silence was deafening.

"Sentenced?" Dmitri was petrified with fear on the inside, but tried not to show it. "How to you mean, 'Zeke?"

The old angel went rambling right into his explanation, which was another sign to Dmitri that something was very amiss. Usually the stodgy old librarian would mumble about the younger generation's lack of respect for their elders or some such, but he didn't now and that worried the young angel.

"The Tzarion Council decreed an hour ago that your father, Azrael, was to be banished from the Empyrean for all time, and to return would be punishable by pain of death!"

This news hit Dmitri like a sledgehammer, for as little as he knew his father he still respected him a great deal. What knocked his second wind right out of him, though, was what Ezekiel _hadn't_ said.

"But what about my mother? Is she O.K.? Is she going to have to leave, too?"

At this, old 'Zeke broke down sobbing.

"Child…" he said, "your mother… has already… b-b-be-been executed."

Dmitri thought he might fall over and die right at that moment, but instead he gave Alicia a strong hug, like a wounded cub trying to somehow draw strength from its mother in a time of distress. Alicia, for her part, could only try to comfort her loved one in the best way she could. Eventually the stricken angel found his voice and spoke.

"But why? Why did this happen to them?"

A powerful voice answered the rhetorical question from the corner of the room by the door that Alicia had entered through.

"Ezekiel does not have the answers you seek, but I do." It was Azrael. His green eyes shone fiercely, yet they seemed dead at the same time; clinging pitifully to life only through some last-ditch adrenaline burst fueled by pain, sorrow, and regret.

"Come, my son," the Arch-Angel continued, "I have ten long hours until my banishment to let the suffering sink in, and in that time I think it is only fitting you learn the truth about who… and _what_… you are."


	2. Chapter 2

.

**Chapter 2: The Scion**

**Originally Written By: Jazzpha **

Dmitri could only sit and stare dumbly as his father systematically shattered his worldview with sledgehammer blows, turning everything the young angel thought he knew upside-down.

"As I know now, and should have seen long ago," his father told him, "the Tzarion Council that rules the Empyrean is full of corrupt and power-hungry angels. Perhaps it was the long-time friendships I had held with many of them that blinded me to the truth, but the pathetic state of affairs is now agonizingly clear to me."

Here Azrael paused for a moment and shifted his weight more comfortably into his chair. He and his progeny were sitting in a private section of the library that was almost always locked and contained rolls upon rolls and volumes upon volumes of sacred text. Ezekiel had unlocked the back room as a last courtesy to his two dear friends, however, and it was here that Azrael would pass his final legacy onto his son. Presently the elder angel had found a comfortable enough position and began to speak again and his tone became even more serious, if that was possible.

"However, there are some things I have not told you about myself that directly affect you, and for keeping secrets from you I humbly beg your forgiveness, my child."

Dmitri still hadn't found his voice yet and simply nodded, motioning for his father to continue. After taking a deep breath, Azrael began his story.

"There was an old prophecy told a long, long time ago, perhaps many thousands of years. The prophecy stated that, when the Angel of Death created life, the hierarchy of the Empyrean would be undone by his spawn in a glorious revolution. This mysterious creature came to be known only as 'The Scion', dubbed so by the angels who dedicated their lives to trying to make sense of the cryptic message.

"Every 50 years the Angel of Death was forced to retire their position and hand their sword over to the angel they had chosen as their apprentice. Ostensibly, this was to ensure that, should a freak act of misfortune befall the Angel of Death there would be someone to take up the mantle. In actuality, however, it was so that the Tzarion Council could keep constant tabs on the Angel of Death and make sure there was no way he or she could possibly sire offspring of any sort.

"But after nothing occurred for over a whole millennium, the Council forgot the fortune and dismissed it as nothing but the ramblings of a seer tripped out on too much peyote. The Angel of Death was still compelled to step down every 50 years, as the Council was loath to disturb that part of the ceremony, but no longer was the apprentice forced to waste his time commenting on frivolous goings-on and wasting everyone's time. It so happened that I was next in line to assume the mantle of the Angel of Death and, because it had been thought of by that point as being worthless, I had no knowledge of the prophecy."

"Wait," Dmitri spoke out, interrupting him, "_you're_ the Angel of Death? Why didn't you ever tell me?!"

Azrael's face fell, and he looked ashamed and broken. Dmitri did not know why this simple question had so affected his father, but he immediately regretted the harshness of his tone. He was about to apologize when Azrael's reply cut him off.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to look at me like everyone else did." Dmitri was shocked and puzzled by this brooding statement, but struggled and kept his expression from changing.

"Everyone else always looked at me with a shadow of fear behind their eyes," his father continued, his voice low, soft and sad, a tone contrasting starkly with his imposing appearance, "except for you, and your mother. I guess that's why I fell in love with her so easily; she thought of me not as the fearsome Angel of Death, but who I was as a being underneath my title."

Dmitri reflected for a moment on his own relationship with Alicia. They seemed eerily similar, the stories of father and son. Dmitri had been isolated from his peers as his father had been, but Azrael's isolation had been psychological rather than physical. Still, Alicia had visited Dmitri and gotten to know him despite the fact he was a shut-in and reclusive, something Dmitri had never thanked her for enough. It seemed as though history had repeated itself, and Dmitri could only wonder at the odd coincidence. But Azrael continued on with his story, and his son was obliged to listen.

"I soon realized that my feelings for your mother were not unrequited, although we were hesitant to do anything more than chastely express our affection for one another when in public. Even in private quarters we only did so much, afraid to break the taboo that had loomed over the angels since the beginning of the Empyrean: the creation of angels was left unto Manitou the Great Spirit, and any violation of the sacred order of things would result in a most severe punishment."

Dmitri broke in again, voicing a question that had surged to the forefront of his mind. "Why was it like that, that only Manitou had the power to make angels?" Dmitri paused as the enormity of the situation finally crashed down on him and all the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. "But if that's against the laws of creation itself," he said, slowly, "then what in all of the nine Hells does that make _me_?"

Azrael merely shrugged. He seemed exhausted, his shoulders drooped and his jet-black hair falling down slightly over his forehead.

"Even I'm not sure of that at this point," the Angel of Death said, his tone sounding as weary as he looked. "Maybe it makes you 'The Scion', or maybe not. Maybe there's some great big giant destiny waiting out there for you I might not even live to see, but who the hell knows. What I _do_ know for a fact, though, is that your power has the potential to be immense, far beyond that of any normal angel."

"How can you be so sure?" Dmitri was skeptical that he could somehow be destined for great things; that was what _every_ mother told their kid when they were going through an identity crisis. How was he supposed to believe he might actually be special? After all, being 'special' didn't usually get you locked in a library for 18 years.

"Because I know that Manitou, in all his infinite wisdom, put restrictions on how powerful each angel can become when he creates them. Some he makes weaker than others because they must perform menial tasks, and assigning a master warrior to dig ditches is certainly going to spark some resentment.

"You, however," at this Azrael looked his son right in the eyes and extending his index finger slowly to point right at his heart, "were born free of those constraints, free of any limitation. If you put your mind to it, you might be able to surpass even me in power. But who knows? I guess only time will tell."

"So does this mean that the Tzarion Council will send people after me, as well?"

"I'm afraid that might wind up being the case, my son. But do not fear," he added, seeing the look of consternation on his son's face. After all, the kid was only 19 and knew next-to-nothing about combat. "I can transfer my knowledge of self-defense and the art of war to you in an instant with what's left of my powers. You can use my wisdom to defend yourself and, in time, learn how to use the powers that reside within you."

Dmitri nodded solemnly, filled with respect, pride, sadness and, unexpectedly, love for his father. He barely knew him, and yet the sight of the broken angel before him made Dmitri's gut wrench with pity. Suddenly a bell shook out a mournful peal outside the safe walls of the library, signaling that the time had come for Azrael to receive his banishment out into the void. Rising slowly from his chair, the Angel of Death looked very old, quite at odds with the powerful presence he had possessed earlier.

Thinking this might be the last time he would ever see his father and anxious to make up for all the time they hadn't been able to share Dmitri got up and gave his father a bear hug, trying to blink back tears at the same time. Azrael was surprised, but returned the gesture nonetheless, a melancholy smile on his face. After a moment or two father and son broke apart, trying to find some way to fill the dreadful silence until a shout from the outside did it for them.

"**Azrael,**" it trumpeted, full of pomp and authority, "**the time of your banishment has come.**"

Dmitri almost expected it to go on a long-winded speech detailing his father's supposed 'crimes', but that must have been delayed for the actual banishment. The young angel looked expectantly at his father, wondering what his reaction would be. At first the Angel of Death's face was impassive, but then to Dmitri's shock a sly grin appeared on his father's face, an impish fire blazing in his eyes.

"Hey, kid, I got an idea. How does this sound to you?"

Azrael whispered something into his son's ear, and by the time he was done Dmitri was grinning for ear-to-ear as well.

"That might just be crazy enough to work, father. What'd you say we try it out?"

The two angels laughed shortly before pausing and nodding seriously to one another, all the mirth cast off of their faces.

"So how exactly are we going to pull this off?"

"Watch and learn, my son."

Azrael took off his armor, which was midnight black traditionally shaped samurai armor, and detached both his katana and wakizashi from his hip, handing the entire set to his son, who accepted the armload with gratitude and care. Slowly but surely Dmitri put on his father's armor, stuck the katana and wakizashi through the sash at his hip, and took a deep breath, waiting for something climactic to happen.

Sure enough, the armor began to shrink slightly and fit his smaller frame snugly and the swords glowed for a moment with a golden aura before fading away into nothingness as if it had never shown up. After a brief pause Dmitri began to feel tingly, starting from the tips of his finger and toes and lancing right to his brain within five seconds. In flashes so fast it seemed like 100 a second all the knowledge and experience his father had absorbed in his time as the Angel of Death was transferred directly to Dmitri, who took a deep breath to calm himself down after it felt like his brain had been given 1,000 volts.

When Dmitri opened up his eyes, though, the young angel noticed his father was still somehow wearing armor and the two swords. But so was he.

"Okay, now I'm confused. What exactly are you planning, dad?"

Azrael smirked and tapped his armor. The sound was strange; it seemed rusty… cheap, almost. Then it hit him. The armor and swords were fakes. Azrael was going to make it look like he still had them when in reality, by the time he was banished the real raiment and sacred weapons would be far out of reach, and Dmitri would have escaped to the Earth below, buying him some time to find some cover and stay out of sight.

"So, am I to assume this is to make up for all the birthday cards you never sent me?"

Azrael and Dmitri shared one last rueful chuckle before going their separate ways; Azrael to his end, Dmitri to a new beginning.

Good luck, my son, Azrael sent telepathically. I hope you won't need it.

Same to you, father. Farewell, wherever it is your path takes you.

* * *

Dmitri flashed out of existence in a bolt of white lightning and reappeared among the clouds, dive-bombing like a comet. His wings had turned a dark red as another offshoot of the transformation that had occurred when he had assumed the mantle of the Scion as his own, (for an outcast angel could not become the Angel of Death, so Dmitri was forced to go for the next best thing) and now those wings spread out behind Dmitri to their full span to slow his descent enough so that he didn't damage the concrete as he landed gracefully, ignoring the shocked stares of a few people as he folded his wings into his back. Scanning the horizon, the exiled angel knew where he was as soon as he saw a gigantic 'T' on the horizon. So it was Jump City, then. 'Well,' he said to himself, 'I couldn't have picked a better place if I'd tried.'

* * *

Azrael walked to the edge of the cliff and spread his wings proudly, determined to go out with some dignity. Still, he couldn't help but grunt in pain as his feathery appendages were brutally and roughly hacked off with a long-sword before the former Angel of Death was unceremoniously shoved off of the precipice and into the abyss.

As he hurtled into the black, inky void, his last thoughts were simply 'Clara, my love… I'm coming home.' A sad smile adorned his face once more, and then he was gone.

* * *

Raven jolted out of bed in the dead of night, sweating bullets and sufficiently freaked out. Dreams and nightmares _that_ vivid had been a rarity since Trigon's demise, but this was more realistic than even her fever-induced demon-nightmares had been of her prophecy and the doom of the world. A proud warrior angel had just been forced ignominiously to his death. Raven felt sick just thinking about it; he had been honorable, served his people well, it seemed, had certainly held no small measure of affection for his son, and had been forced to walk the plank. She felt movement next to her and the demoness was drawn back to the present; it seemed as though Ichijyo was having a similar nightmare from the way he was trembling. It was slight, but it was trembling nonetheless.

Soon enough his eyes shot open, too, clear blue orbs that blazed like the purest sapphires but were at this particular moment tinged with dread. He looked over and saw that Raven was in a comparable state of distress and calmed down immediately; if this wasn't a coincidence it was explainable and understandable, and if that was the case there was nothing to be afraid of. If it was a problem, they could solve it, no question.

"Raven?"

"Hmm?" She seemed distant, no doubt going through a similar cycle of thoughts to the one Ichijyo just had.

"Did you just have a nightmare?"

"No shit, Sherlock." She smirked, punching him playfully on the arm and alleviating some of the tension in the room. "What tipped you off? The sweat, the negative emotions and the haggard appearance, or was it just a lucky guess?"

"No need to give me a hard time, my little blackbird," the Snake Knight said, calmly, but with a smirk of his own. "I was just making sure." The Snake Knight sat up as well and looked out the window. It was a full moon, and the myriad of stars outside would have looked stunningly beautiful if it wasn't for this nagging feeling of dread clouding his mind.

"What do you suppose the significance of that dream was? It seemed more like a vision to me."

"I'm not quite sure, but it was quite ominous," Raven said, unable to keep a bit of apprehension out of her voice. The alarm started blaring not a moment after she had finished. The two demons sprang up out of bed, changed quickly into their battle gear (armor for Ichijyo, the usual cloak and leotard for Raven) before heading out the door and rushing down the hallway.

"Well," Raven added hurriedly as they sprinted to where the rest of the team was hastily getting ready to head out, "it looks like we'll find out soon enough, for better or worse."

* * *

Dmitri was startled by a sudden roar that rend the peaceful night air in two. A big, brown, sludgy, gooey creature was ripping up the landscape haphazardly while lumbering towards the nuclear waste processing plant. The Scion looked up at the new menace and drew his father's katana… no, now it was _his_ katana… with a fluid motion that seemed like it had come from years upon years of experience. Letting instinct guide him for the moment Dmitri felt around in his mind for his own latent power and soon located it, prowling around like a caged animal begging to be unleashed. Smirking, Dmitri bashed down the mental door to the cage and immediately felt exhilarated as power flooded through his entire being like a river, branching out and coursing all through him again and again, like the flow of blood to and from the heart. Tapping into it lightly caused a ball of flaming golden energy to appear crackling in his palm, ready to kick some ass and take some names.

"Hey, you!" Plasmus turned around, annoyed. Good, he had its attention. "Yeah, you, the big ugly steaming pile of shit! Your face is so ugly; I don't even think your mother could love it!"

Plasmus roared in anger and Dmitri saw his chance, hurling the ball of energy right into the creature's gaping maw. The creature exploded violently, much to Dmitri's satisfaction, and he almost let his guard down until he felt that there was still life-force emanating from the various sludgy giblets that littered the ground. Sure enough, the bits of Plasmus reformed quite quickly into the original monster and Dmitri could see no traces of his previous assault.

It looked like this was going to be more fun then the fallen angel had first thought. With a battle-cry loud enough to shake the Empyrean itself the Scion flew up at his foe like a bullet, katana raised high and ready to strike.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fallen Angel, Chapter 3: A Stranger Comes to Town**

Dmitri had rarely felt this exhilarated before in his life. Granted, doing nothing but reading books and learning stuff cooped up in a library for 19 years with little-to-no interaction with the outside world wasn't exactly _exhilarating_, but even if it had been this would certainly be miles above that.

The fallen angel was weaving back and forth like a hummingbird on crack, dodging, pirouetting, and doing his utmost to confound the brainless monster in front of him. When he tried to get too fancy, though, Plasmus caught him in the middle of a spin and gobbled him whole in one gulp.

The first sensation Dmitri experienced was claustrophobia. That was quickly followed by a stomach turning wave of nausea as he realized that he was inside the living mound of nuclear byproduct. Then, however, came a wave of emotions that was far more unsettling. Panic. Fear. Doubt. Apprehension. Was this monster going to put him back in a cage again? He still hadn't seen pure sunlight yet, and judging by how nice the moon had looked Dmitri certainly didn't want to miss out. But then the unsettling emotions gave way to more focused, concentrated responses to danger. Rage. Disgust. Loathing. Hatred. And, last but not least, there was perhaps the most effective of all of these responses: unbridled, righteous fury.

Dmitri felt something tug at his mind again, some other power that was also begging for its turn to be used. But when Dmitri made a quick trip inside the void of his mind to unleash it, (after protecting himself from Plasmus' internal acids with an energy shield) though, he did a double-take and almost fainted into unconsciousness. A cloaked figure stood only a few feet away from him, its face totally obscured by the darkness of a hood. It held a huge scythe in on hand and wore a massive sword on its back. It did nothing for a moment, but then it held out a strong, muscular hand to Dmitri, as if offering a handshake. Dmitri stared dumbly for a moment, and then it all clicked in a single, horrifying epiphany.

If he was the new, albeit unofficial, Angel of Death then this guy must be where the 'Death' part came in. Dmitri knew that to shake his hand would unleash a terrifying power, but nonetheless something else inside him, perhaps his father's knowledge, told Dmitri he could control it. That, and his conscious display of his mind was fading, a signal that if the angel didn't do something soon he wasn't going to have a chance to do anything at all. Suddenly a lurching pain surged up from Dmitri's stomach and things started to go fuzzy. Half blind and feeling the effects of rage and fear the Scion reached out and grabbed the hand in front of him with as much strength as he could, silently begging it to pull him out of this mess. The hood was thrown back, revealing a face that looked just like Dmitri's, but with black irises and white, cat-like slits for pupils. The creature smirked darkly before evaporating into a dark mist and darting into Dmitri's chest. Dmitri closed his eyes tight as he felt another surge of power, although this one threatened to overwhelm him.

Gritting his teeth and fighting the sudden urge to destroy everything around him. Dmitri opened his eyes and found himself still in Plasmus' stomach; the entire exchange in his mind having taken only about 10 seconds of real-time. The physical change in him wasn't drastic, only his eyes had noticeably changed, but the power influx was considerable. Without the hands-on experience needed to fully control it, however, it was crude and unfocused. As such, the resulting explosion didn't kill the human inside Plasmus, but it disintegrated the sludge around Dmitri completely and sent the rest of it splattering against buildings nearby with phenomenal force. If the shockwave hadn't been physically invisible, it would have looked like a supernova had just gone off.

Dmitri took a deep breath, calming down and allowing his eyes to change back to normal. Exhausted, the angel flapped down to the ground and hunched over, collecting himself. He was going to need to work on controlling that side of him, that was for sure; but as soon as he had dominance over it and not the other way around it would be quite a formidable weapon. The Scion wearily walked over to the body of the man inside Plasmus, folded his wings away and looked down at the unconscious form.

"You're a real a pain in the ass, buddy. You know that?"

A voice from behind Dmitri spoke out, breaking the silence.

"Titans, G—! Wait, what the hell's going on here?"

The angel spun around quickly and found himself face-to-face with the superhero group he had read about in the library of the Empyrean known as the Teen Titans, although there were a few new faces that hadn't gotten mentioned in the scrolls that detailed the past and present of many of Earth's heroes. There were also three individuals Dmitri recognized as being Zodiac Knights by their armor. A girl with long, black hair and purple and silver armor (she had raided her sister's closet before the team had left in a rush) snickered at her leader's discomfort.

"It looks like you've just gotten shown up in a big way, oh Fearless Leader."

Robin, never one to take a bruising of his ego well, decided it couldn't be that simple and took his frustration out on this newcomer to a somewhat-unfair degree.

"Okay, explain yourself! Make it quick, or we'll consider you a villain just like Plasmus over there and treat you accordingly!"

Dmitri had smirked when Robin had gotten teased by that girl, but when his motives had been questioned he became insulted. So he had gotten here earlier than the other heroes had, minimized the damage done, saved the day and somehow that was a _bad _thing? The Scion snarled like an outraged lion and revealed his burgundy wings, spreading them all the way out before curling them slightly. His eyes didn't change like they had before, but his gaze became hard as iron, his eyes narrow. When he spoke, it came out as a growl.

"Was that a _threat_, you ungrateful human?" Dmitri dropped the veil around his powers slightly for added effect, just so these people could see the extent to which he had been pissed off.

Everyone except Ichijyo, and to a lesser extent Raven, who had no idea this guy had been anything other than human, were shocked and took a step back. The Snake Knight and the demoness, however, had totally different gut reactions and stood their ground. Raven could tell this person was an angel, and a powerful one at that, but he was also very frightened and weary under his fierce shell, and this was just a survival mechanism. Shadow knew at once this was the angel he had seen in his vision flying toward the earth, and if he was anything like the other bits of his personality that the Snake Knight had seen suggested, he was not going to hurt anyone any time soon. He was just insulted, and understandably so. Shadow glanced at his loved one and sent her a quick telepathic message to take care of Robin's temper, while the Snake Knight stepped forward to confront the fallen angel.

Dmitri tensed even more when Shadow started walking towards him, but when he noticed the ease of his gait and the lack of malicious intent in his rather strong aura the fallen angel relaxed a great deal, tiredly holding out his hand to stop the Zodiac Knight in mid-stride.

"You don't have to treat me like a feral beast, you know," he said, his voice suddenly soft and tired. "I don't bite. I was just stressed out and for that I apologize, honorable Knight."

The tension in the atmosphere plummeted as soon as it was made clear that this new guy wasn't a threat, everyone slumped out of their battle stances, and Robin felt like an asshole for automatically having assumed the worst-case scenario. Nevertheless, he still had his doubts and was going to ask some less-invasive questions until Starfire beat him to the punch, zooming up closer to Dmitri with unrestrained glee so bright it would have put the sun to shame.

"Oh, you do not bite? That is very much like the Zroglornaks of my homeworld, vicious on the outside, but kind of heart! What is your name? How did you come to this place? What is your favorite color? What about your favorite food? If you wish us no harm, would give us the great honor of becoming our friend?"

Dmitri was taken aback, although that might be too light a description. He looked as though he had just been plowed upside the head by an artillery shell, stunned at the display of unsolicited cheery attitude. His eyes darted back and forth nervously, until he decided he might as will answer the questions, lest this oh-so-happy girl become crestfallen.

"Well… erm… my name is Dmitri, I flew here, I guess I'd say I have a preference towards silver, I love a really good steak every now and then, and I guess I wouldn't mind having a few new friends."

"Oh, that is glorious to hear, new friend Dmitri! Welcome to our city!" Starfire plowed ahead with one of her bone-crushing hugs but, to everyone's surprise, Dmitri was unfazed by the incredible force and simply returned the gesture lightly, still a bit shocked. After Starfire floated back to her friends Dmitri glanced sideways at Ichijyo.

"Is everyone down here that… inquisitive?"

Shadow chuckled lightly at the angel's discomfort.

"Not quite. But I think we'd all like to hear about how you managed to take down Plasmus single-handedly, and what exactly an angel is doing down here on earth." Pluto, who saw that now was as good a time to break in as any, threw in his own two cents.

"And where'd you get that armor? It looks awesome! What's it made out of?"

Dmitri sighed, and smirked. "One at a time, guys, please. Besides," he looked up at the moon and measured its position. "I'd say its about midnight, I've had one hell of a day, and I really need some rest. Any of you know a place I could stay the night? I'll tell you guys everything you want to know tomorrow."

Normally Dmitri would have been more apprehensive about being so open with people he had just met, but going by what he could see in their eyes these were good people. Draco spoke up this time, answering Dmitri's question about a place to stay.

"You can stay with us, if you'd like. I'm sure we could find an extra room. It might be kind of bland, but I'm sure it would make due for the time being. If we can't find anything you could always just use my room; I could room with Jinx for a night no problem." Draco was struck by something in this stranger. He didn't know quite what it was, but he wanted to make sure he didn't spend the night on the streets or in some shitty motel. It wasn't the sort of thing that someone who just took down Plasmus by himself deserved.

Dmitri glanced at each of the Titans and Knights in turn, expecting to hear some rebuke but shocked to hear none. Agreement, acceptance and kindness was all the fallen angel saw, and he was nearly overwhelmed with gratitude.

"Well, I guess that would be… very nice. Thank you."

Robin motioned to Raven to teleport them all home, and in the blink of an eye they were in the safe and sound environment of the tower. Dmitri spied a comfortable-looking couch and collapsed on it, folding his wings over himself like a cocoon.

"Thanks for the generous offer, noble Knight," he mumbled, clearly exhausted, "but this will do just fine." Dmitri was out within half a minute of having laid down, and the rest of the team simply chuckled to themselves and dispersed, ready to be embraced by the comforting arms of sleep and peaceful oblivion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fallen Angel, Chapter 4: Kindred Spirits**

**Originally Written By Jazzpha **

Dmitri woke up groggily and instinctively stretched his wings out before blinking in shock three times and falling off of the couch he had been sleeping on. It took the angel a few moments to remember where he was, at which point his heart calmed down and Dmitri breathed again. The memories of the day and night before flooded into the angel's mind, determined to rob him of the sleep he desperately needed.

Realizing that there was no way he was going to get the myriad thoughts out of his head unless he sucked it up and dealt with them Dmitri sat down, closed his eyes, exhaled and began to meditate.

* * *

Once again, he found himself in a library.

'I swear to all the gods and demons above and below this planet,' he fumed inwardly, 'if I _ever_ see another library again…' A laugh from off to his left distracted the angel, who immediately adjusted his gaze before receiving another shock.

He was looking at himself. More specifically, it was the doppelganger that had been wearing the cloak and carrying the scythe. At the moment, though, he was clothed in jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a leather bomber jacket; quite a sharp contrast to his previous attire. The nihilistic, 'I-just-don't-give-a-fuck' smirk still adorned his face, but his arsenal had changed substantially, from the scythe to two pistols holstered at his hips and an AK-47 strapped to his back. Dmitri took a second to recognize the figure, but once he did he spoke with an annoyed tone: Dmitri hated being screwed with, and obviously this guy thought he was playing some kind of game with him.

"Alright, just who the Hell are you?" The doppelganger chuckled, and the mocking sound quickly exploded into a full blown laugh. After it subsided, the figure took a deep breath and had to wipe a tear from his eye before responding.

"Who am I? _Who am I_? Who the fuck do I look like, kid?"

Dmitri was taken aback by the crude reply, and faltered a bit before replying.

"Uh… you look like me, but—" The doppelganger broke in with a rowdy tone, throwing Dmitri off yet again.

"Fuckin' A, right I look like you, because I _am_ you or at least half of you anyway. The better half, if I do say so myself."

"What d'you mean _half _of me?" At this point, Dmitri had spiraled down into a state of severe confusion. The doppelganger elucidated, but with the tone someone takes on when they're forced to re-state what they think is blatantly obvious.

"I'm the kickass half of you, the one that puts the 'Death' into 'Angel of Death'. I don't deliberate, I don't negotiate, and I don't hesitate. Someone crosses me, it's the LAST thing they _ever_ do. I'm the guy that got here when ol' pops decided to hand the mantle over to you, kid, and I'm here to stay."

"Charming." Dmitri's expression changed from suspicious to exasperated. He'd already gone sour on this guy's gung-ho attitude, and to have him say he was going to be here all the time was distressing, to say the least. The doppelganger noticed this change of attitude and shifted his stance slightly, along with dropping the smirk and changing his tone.

"I guess you aren't really an adrenaline jockey, then, huh?"

Dmitri was surprised by this change of personality, and it took him a few moments to reply.

"Excuse me?"

"The Angel of Death before your dad was a balls-to-the-wall, slaughter-craving adrenaline junkie, so I kind of just adopted his personality. Your dad didn't really seem to mind, so I just stayed the way I was with his predecessor. You, on the other hand," the doppelganger leaned back slightly to look up at the ceiling, arms crossed over his chest, "don't seem to be like that at all. What, you more of a Shakespeare kind of guy?"

"Not really," Dmitri responded, a bit self-conscious now that he was the center of attention, "I guess I just don't cuss like a sailor or have an addiction to violence. What exactly _are_ you, though? I mean, it can't just be as simple as being 'my other half'."

"The young one, quite wise he is, hmmm?" The doppelganger said in an uncannily good Yoda voice, before changing back to normal. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you.

"Basically, your mind is like a Yin-Yang. You've got the good emotions, like Love, Compassion, Kindness, Empathy, Consideration and so on," it didn't escape Dmitri's notice that the doppelganger had spat each of these words out with extreme disdain, "and then you have the other emotions. Lust, Hate, Rage, Anger, Fear, Distress, Envy, Jealousy, just to name a few."

The doppelganger's voice had gotten noticeably more enthusiastic and excited as it had recited the second list, and Dmitri was starting to get scared before his temporary teacher calmed down and continued normally.

"Your conscious side of the personality contains all of the emotions you don't want to repress, namely the 'good' ones. I, on the other hand, am the mental incarnation of all of the other emotions you keep repressed and under wraps all the time."

He fell silent at that, and Dmitri was satisfied with the more moderate explanation of who this guy was. He was still confused about the library setting, though; the last time he had gone introspective he had only seen a void.

"So what's with the library?" The doppelganger seemed enthusiastic at the prospect of showing a rookie the ropes, and he dove right in with an almost irritating amount of vigor.

"Well, this is just the way you've chosen to visualize your mind, see. You came in here with the intent of sorting through your thoughts, memories, so here they all are." With this the doppelganger expansively waved his arm, gesturing at the aisles upon aisles of books and sheet of loose-leaf that occupied the seemingly endless room. "So, where do you want to start?" When he looked over at his 'yin', Dmitri noticed that his weapons had changed to a katana/wakizashi pair with red sheaths. The angel assumed it was because his own sub-consciousness had projected this image onto his other half, in order to express his slant towards more elegant weaponry as opposed to weapons of crude destruction like guns.

But now wasn't the time for digressions, and Dmitri re-focused himself.

"Well, let's start at the beginning. What knowledge did my father leave with me, exactly? I know I didn't have this skill with a katana before then, but is there anything else I should be aware of?"

A huge, dusty tome bound with in black leather with gold trimming along the cover's border appeared in front of Dmitri with a 'poof'.

"It's all in there, kid," the 'yin' said, slightly disinterested, "I suggest you start reading now, or you'll be here until sunup."

Dmitri was about to begin looking through the mammoth text, but then he had a different idea and paused, looking over at his own personal Jiminy Cricket gone horribly wrong.

"Do you have a name?"

"Anything you want it to be, it can be, kid. I'm part of _you_, remember? The last guy who I was with called me Arnold, but I don't like that name very much. Why, you have any ideas?"

Dmitri smirked. "As a matter of fact, I do. What about 'Caesar'?"

The 'yin' smirked, and then his smirk grew wider and wider until it was a smile.

"Caesar, huh?" he said, stroking his chin. "I like it. Terse and effective, but still powerful. Now get reading; you have a lot to catch up on."

Not needing to be told twice, Dmitri set his eyes on the cover of the book, opened it, and began to read.

* * *

Shadow knew he had been awoken by some sort of sound, but was unaware of what it had been and that put him slightly on edge. His state of heightened alert persisted until his stomach rumbled mightily, revealing the culprit that had been the cause of disturbance. Stifling a groan of annoyance both at himself and his gastrointestinal tract the Snake Knight climbed tiredly out of bed and half-stumbled, half walked to the door of his room, rubbing his fatigued eyes as he did so. It seemed like it was the ideal time for a midnight fridge-raiding.

* * *

Dmitri kept flipping through page after page, each leaf bringing new information like a piece of jigsaw puzzle. Problem was, this was a 5000 piece puzzle and at the moment Dmitri was working with 14 pieces, none of which were corners.

Apparently, the Angel of Death wasn't as much a force that spread universal pestilence as it was an avenger; the avatar of the Great Spirit's terrible wrath. The doppelganger now known simply as 'Caesar' had been a presence in all of the former Angels of Death, but with slight differences each time. It seemed that if the Death-Bringer already had a personality suited to the job description the doppelganger was weak at, but the more peaceable the Angel, the stronger the doppelganger. The current Angel of Death chalked his doppelganger's nonchalant attitude up to the hatred and desire for revenge that burned deep within him; if Dmitri wanted to, he could be benevolent or utterly merciless, so a nudge one way or the other wasn't a necessity.

Dmitri found the pages to be moving faster and faster as he read more and more. He soaked up diagrams that illustrated fighting stances like a dehydrated sponge before devouring more advanced sword-fighting techniques and spell-casting with ravenous curiosity. After what seemed like just 10 minutes (but was really far less than that in real-time) Dmitri had burned through the rest of the book, but as a consequence of ripping through it so fast he had only grasped a basic knowledge of several of his power's many facets. That notwithstanding Dmitri was burning out his retinas and needed to rest his eyes, so the fallen angel slammed the book shut with a resounding 'thump', bid Caesar a farewell salute, and left the library of his thoughts in the dust.

* * *

As he opened his eyes and stretched his cramped wings out, though, Dmitri picked up another sound nearby. More specifically, it was the slow trudging of tired feet coming down a hallway towards the main room, where Dmitri had made his impromptu bed earlier that night. Sure enough, the door slid open to reveal a bleary-eyed and hungry Shadowcobra. The Knight, however, continued on as if he hadn't seen Dmitri and opened the door to the fridge slowly, like a zombie questing for brains. Fishing half-blindly with his arm stuck halfway into the refrigerator the Snake Knight eventually came away with two containers that had a fair amount of sushi each. When Ichijyo turned around and saw Dmitri observing him, though, he did a double-take and the sushi would have hit the ground if Dmitri hadn't raised him hand to stop them with his powers. After the sushi had floated safely over to the table near the kitchen, Dmitri relaxed and broke the somewhat awkward silence.

"Sorry about that, but I figured that if I spoke it would have given you more of a shock."

Shadow simply exhaled and waved dismissively, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it," he said, "it was a gut reaction, and probably would have happened however I noticed you."

The Snake Knight sat down at the table and eyeballed the sushi again, surprised at himself.

"It seems like my eye was much bigger than my stomach back there." He took one tray for himself and set the other across from him, looking over at Dmitri.

"You want some sushi?" he asked, his tone flat but sincere. "I really don't think I could finish all this myself. If Draco or the Mutt were here it would be a different story, but as it stands you're more than welcome to join me."

Dmitri was a little surprised himself by the show of generosity, as he barely knew any of these people, but the Knight seemed genuine in his intentions. The angel walked briskly over to the table and sat down across from Ichijyo, who by now was meticulously and systematically eating one piece of sushi at a time, softly hissing as the hunger in his stomach faded into nothingness. Dmitri noticed something strange about the Knight as he looked at him; it seemed as though he had coexisting demonic and angelic auras, something the fallen angel had never thought a possibility. Curious, he decided to try and open up a conversation.

"Noble Knight, sir, if I might be so bold as to ask you a question…" he was about to go right ahead with the actual inquiry, but Shadowcobra cut him off.

"Please, all of that formality is not necessary. Shadowcobra is fine, Shadow for short, or even Ichijyo, if you like." After a confused pause was all he got from Dmitri, Shadow realized the reason and clarified. "Shadowcobra is my Zodiac Knight name, Ichijyo is my birth name."

Dmitri 'ahh'ed in understanding but then fell silent, his question forgotten for the moment until a question in return from the Snake Knight jolted the fallen angel out of his trance.

"You were going to ask me something, Dmitri?"

For a second Dmitri wondered how exactly Shadow knew his name, but then Dmitri remembered that he had told Starfire his name earlier. Refocusing himself, the angel resumed his derailed train of thought.

"If you don't mind me asking," Ichijyo noticed that the angel was still a little hesitant and was puzzled as to why that could be, but soon enough he had the answer to his question. "I couldn't help but notice that your energy aura is equal parts angelic and demonic. I've never heard of anything like this happening before; how exactly is it possible?"

Dmitri immediately knew he had stepped onto forbidden ground with that question, because Ichijyo's face became troubled and distant. The angel inwardly berated himself for jeopardizing a possible friendship so early.

"If it's a sensitive issue, I apologize for prying so crassly…"

But Ichijyo swallowed and composed himself, the troubled look vanishing from his face to become one of resigned acceptance.

"Normally I wouldn't answer that question, for… personal reasons," he said, "but considering that I was going to ask you questions of a similar nature about yourself, it's only fair you would want to know about me in return." After taking another bite of sushi and composing his thoughts, the Snake Knight began his tale.

"The coexisting auras you see are legacies I inherited from my parents. My father, Ichiro, is a vampire, and at one point was an agent of the Deathtrons. My mother, Keiko, is an angel who, at the time she met my father, was unaware that she was one.

"My father had been sent to kill my mother, but instead he was so moved by her kindness that he refused to do the deed. They fell in love and he betrayed the Deathtron forces, instead joining my mother, along with the other Elemental Warriors, to battle the forces of evil. He found a way to control his vampiric urges to keep himself from going insane, and in time they were granted permission by the Order to have children, as a reward for saving the known universe."

Dmitri had heard of the Order of course, as he had lived in the Empyrean (referred to by others as Heaven) for his whole life. They were a group of humans who knew about the world beyond the horizon, the one of angels and demons, and they had wanted to do something to protect humans from being caught in the crossfire. The fallen angel had to force himself out of his mental digression to pay attention, though, because Shadow had begun to speak again.

"There are three of us; my older sister, my younger brother and myself. My older sister is an angel/human hybrid and my younger brother is a vampire/human hybrid. I, on the other hand, somehow managed to inherit equal parts angelic and vampiric genes from my mother and father, which is what causes the two separate and opposite auras to coexist as one within me."

Dmitri was surprised by this unlikely explanation, and might have thought there was no way such a thing could have come to pass if the evidence wasn't staring him right in the face.

"So, it looks like you got the best of both worlds, huh?" Dmitri, not knowing anything about Ichijyo's background aside from what he had just heard, assumed there couldn't possibly be a downside. He was about to be proven quite wrong as Ichijyo's face fell and he clenched his fist before he continued.

"You would think that would be the case, with being given so much power. But, because of the nature of my conception and birth, there are several people who view me as a sin, an… abomination."

Dmitri saw that the Snake Knight's knuckles were turning white, and he knew that he had to step in and defuse what he thought was a ticking time bomb of pent up anger and frustration.

"Believe it or not," the fallen angel said, "I know exactly what you mean."

"You do?" Shadow was confused. Surely the experience of this angel couldn't have been at all like what his had been… right?

"Yeah…" Dmitri continued, a look in his eyes like someone reminiscing about a bittersweet memory, "let's just say my life hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies either."

Shadow was curious. Was this another kindred spirit, someone who had suffered like he had and was trying to soldier through the pain himself?

"How so?" the Snake Knight asked. Dmitri took a deep breath, downed a roll of sushi, washed it down with some soda, and began a tale of his own.

"I hardly knew my mother and father. A week after I was born, I got shuttled off to the Library of the 'Empyrean', which is what we call Heaven."

Shadow had the gut feeling that this wasn't going to be pretty. Unless Dmitri had misspoken, that 'knew' in the past tense meant that his parents were… Shadow closed his eyes briefly and forced himself not to think such fatalistic thoughts before refocusing his attention on the fallen angel opposite him.

"The Library is this massive place, 100 times larger than anything down here, with books on anything you could possibly want to learn about. The librarian's name is Ezekiel, and he's probably the only angel with enough humility to let himself age. He's about the kindest soul you could ever meet, and he brought me up to be a good kid and make my parents proud of me."

Ichijyo wondered why, if this Ezekiel was such a nice person, Dmitri's tone was so forlorn. Then again, he told himself, you'd be melancholy too if you had to live apart from your parents cloistered in a library your whole young adult life. Suddenly, Shadow was overwhelmed with gratitude as he thought about all of the friends he had made since he had decided to break away from the Black Knights Guild. He shuddered inwardly when he thought about where he would be without them, if he had chosen to remain a lone wolf…or snake as the case may be.

"But why was it you had to be moved to this library? What happened to your parents?"

Dmitri's face scrunched up in consternation as he thought of a reply that wouldn't sound too blunt. But since there was no other way to say it, Dmitri just stuck with the stone cold truth.

"_I_ happened to my parents, Ichijyo."

This was too eerie for the Snake Knight. "What do you mean?"

"I was _born_, that's what I mean." Shadow noticed that Dmitri had put a weird emphasis on the word 'born', and waited for him to explain.

"You see, angels are normally created from a burst of divine energy, with no-one controlling the process other than the Great Spirit, Manitou. This ensures a certain amount of 'quality control', if you will. It makes certain that one single angel isn't more powerful than it absolutely _has_ to be, to prevent the outbreak of another rebellion like the one we had with Lucifer. And therein lay the catch.

"Since I was born from a sexual rather than an asexual union, I was unbound by those limits. It goes without saying that the Tzarion Council, the ruling body of the Empyrean, was less-than-pleased with this threat to their hegemony. But that wasn't all."

"What else could there be that they could find fault with? An angel is still an angel, right?" Ichijyo was confused. Just how much had this guy been singled out?

"Under normal circumstances, you'd be right. Unfortunately, these circumstances were anything _but_ normal. You see, my father was none other than the Angel of Death himself."

"You're kidding." Shadow was stunned. He had heard of such a being, to be sure, but never had he seen it or heard from people who had witnessed it. Then again, if it did its job right the Angel of Death wasn't supposed to leave any witnesses.

"I wouldn't kid about this, friend," Dmitri said, tone solemn and head slumped ever so lightly. "So," he continued, the plot thickens. There appears to be a prophecy that states that, when the Angel of Death defies the balance and creates life, that his spawn would rise to overthrow the corrupt Council in a glorious revolution, bringing from this victory the beginning of a new age.

"If you ask me, though, that's about as self-fulfilling as a prophecy can be. I mean, if the Council strikes me and I strike back and wind up killing them all, the prophecy will have magically been brought to fruition, while I was merely defending myself the entire time. And because the Council is so afraid to lose power that they'll believe every crackpot, fortune-cookie bit of 'wisdom' their seer throws at them, they will not hesitate to act on it."

"So what happens then?" Shadow had a sinking feeling he already knew what the answer was going to be.

"They're going to hunt me down, like a dog." A deep hatred burned in Dmitri's voice as he said this, a stark change from his earlier, placid albeit depressed tone. "But I'll be damned if I let them take me down without a fight."

Ichijyo understood exactly where Dmitri was coming from; if some people just arbitrarily decided that he didn't deserve to live any longer he'd fight back tooth and nail to stay alive, no question. Whether or not the team would accept someone with a cosmic bounty on their head was a matter the whole team would probably discuss tomorrow, but for now there was still one dangling thread in the story that Dmitri hadn't tied up yet.

"But what happened to your parents? If you don't mind me asking, that is," he added hurriedly, fearing he might have treaded onto overly-sensitive ground.

"No, it's alright," Dmitri said, voice even again. "I never really got the chance to see them that much at all, anyway; except for one or two times. I guess either they were forbidden from visiting me, or they were ashamed, or both." Dmitri's voice had slowly gotten more melancholy as he had said this, but he soldiered on nonetheless. "My father visited me one last time before he got banished into the endless void to give me his armor and his swords," here Dmitri motioned to his armor and his matching pair of blades. "My mother… she wasn't so lucky. They cut her head clean off and left her body for the dogs, if the reports the heralds shouted out were to be trusted."

Ichijyo was shocked and outraged by such an atrocity. How could these so-called 'angels' go as far as to banish someone's father and _execute_ their mother all because they were in love and happened to have a child that _might_ have tied into some ridiculous prophecy? At that moment Shadow wanted to hunt all of these monsters down and rip their throats out himself. He was just so mad, but he forced himself to calm down and looked over at the dejected angel, trying to find some way to salvage the rapport they had been sharing.

"So, Dmitri…" he began, "what do you do for fun?"

"Well, other than read, um… I guess I don't mind playing the occasional board game or two. What did you have in mind?"

In a silent answer to his question, a chess-set floated slowly over to the table and opened itself out, the pieces arranging themselves expediently. The black pieces were carved out of pure onyx, the white ones of the most brilliant ivory Dmitri had ever seen. The board itself was alternating colors of marble squares lined with silver.

"You want to play a match, my friend?"

Dmitri genuinely smiled for the first time in a while.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I just hope you can handle losing," he added with a smirk.

"Oh, we'll see about that." Shadow said, advancing a pawn two spaces. "Your move."

Dmitri countered with a pawn of his own, and the game was afoot.

It continued back and forth for some time, like two skilled fencers feeling out the other's defenses before striking, only to have that blow countered by an equally skilled parry. It seemed as though neither combatant had the advantage over the other and it was shaping up to be quite an explosive finish. Both of the players were at the point of resorting to running last-ditch gambits when an extremely loud noise shattered the players' concentration. It sounded to Dmitri like a powerful howl, repeated again and again, but that would have to be one _damn_ big wolf to be heard from this far away. Frustrated, Dmitri took his finger off of his bishop, rubbing his temples in a vain effort to ward off the migraine that was rushing at him like a stampeding herd of buffalo.

"What in the nine Hells is that noise, Shadow?"

"If I had to guess," the Snake Knight ground out through his clenched jaw, "that would be our resident mutt baying at the moon."

"Your 'resident mutt'?"

"Yes, Pluto, the Zodiac Knight you saw earlier, black armor, silver chest-plate." Dmitri nodded in understanding before Shadow continued. "His Zodiac animal is the dog, and as a consequence of this he possesses not only dog-like senses, but also some of their more… rambunctious traits, such as howling at the moon every now and then and depriving us of our sleep."

"Does he do this regularly?" Dmitri wanted to know if he was going to need to invest in some soundproofing for his walls if he actually moved in with these guys.

"Not all the time," Shadow replied, "although this _is_ actually a lot more bearable than most of the inventions he cooks up in that lab of his, believe it or not."

"Inventions? Lab? As in the brilliant-but-eccentric genius type?"

"Eccentric? Definitely. Genius? Most of the time. But brilliant? I'd say that's up for discussion."

"What's he done in the past that warrants him being just a 'part-time' genius?"

"Well, there was this one time at a science fair…" Shadow was going to continue, but he stopped himself. "You know what, forget that. Those memories are just _too_ painful to recall. Let's just say he can be more of a fire hazard than Draco, and that's saying something."

Dmitri felt like he was on the outside looking in on a massive joke.

"Uh, who's Draco?"

"Oh, forgive me, I got ahead of myself. You remember the Knight in red, the one who offered you his room for tonight? That's Draco. He has control over fire, among other things. Just stay away from him when he has a cold _at all costs_, or you'll regret it."

Dmitri picked up on the not-so-subtle amount of venom in Shadowcobra's voice, but declined to pursue it any further as it seemed like a longer story for another time.

"Then again," Shadow broke in, "if you _had_ accepted his offer, we might not have been able to get any sleep regardless of whether or not Pluto was howling."

"Why would that be the case?"

Shadow paused for a moment, thinking about the right way to phrase this.

"You remember that girl he said he would room with, Jinx, the one with pink hair?" Dmitri nodded and Shadow continued. "Let's just say they've been… 'rooming together' a lot lately, and they can raise the dead, if you get my meaning."

"Some part of me wishes I hadn't, my friend," Dmitri said, but he was chuckling all the same.

Throughout the rest of the wee hours of the night, the two kindred spirits tried, unsuccessfully, to get some sleep before the sun rose and Beast Boy let loose with one of his morning rallying cries. However, it seemed karma was determined to stop them at every turn. At one point, the rocks around the room glowed yellow, levitated and bounced around the room while Dmitri and Shadow ducked for cover.

"Looks like Terra's having a nightmare again," Shadow shouted over the hailstorm-like din. "Hopefully it'll pass soon!"

No sooner had he said that then it subsided, but the pounding headaches each of the boys had by now thoroughly prevented the sweet embrace of oblivion from taking them away to rest. Fed up beyond all endurance and looking as though they might tear the next mouse that so much as squeaked limb-from-limb, Dmitri had a sudden idea.

"Shadow, you don't happen to know how to make any potions of any kind, do you?"

"A few," the Snake Knight replied, somewhat puzzled, "why do you ask?"

"Do you think you could whip something up that would knock us both to kingdom come? At this point I think that's the only way we're going to get _any_ rest around here."

"Hmm… you propose a good plan, but my potion skills _are_ kind of rusty…" the Snake Knight only considered it for a second more before moans that sounded somewhat like 'Oh…Ryuki…' floated down the hallway and he made up his mind in a flash.

"As a matter of fact, I think I have just the thing we need."

After raiding the fridge one last time Shadow dug out various herbs and vegetables, mutter a few quick spells before grinding the stuff together in a mortar until it became liquid. Pouring small amounts into two glasses, he handed one to Dmitri and took one for himself.

"Bottoms up, my friend." They downed the potions and immediately hit the floor like sacks of potatoes, dumb grins on their faces and totally oblivious to the world around them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Fallen Angel, Chapter 5: New Friends**

**Originally Written By: Jazzpha**

Beast Boy awoke to greet the new dawn, feeling like a million bucks that had just been given a caffeine boost. Just bursting with the anticipation of sharing his boundless good mood with his friends the green changeling dashed out into the main room, struck a pose, and began to walk towards the kitchen to make breakfast (he'd shut that sneaky Cyborg up once and for all about which was better, meat or tofu). Everything was going according to plan until Beast Boy's foot hit something unexpectedly hard and he heard… a hiss?

Stumbling to regain his footing and looking behind him, the changeling saw that Shadow and Dmitri were sprawled on the ground. Both of them had been out cold but the Snake Knight was now beginning to stir, rubbing the side of his head gingerly. When he spoke, his tone was light and confounded; his eyes bleary.

"What in the blazes…" All of a sudden the chaotic memories of the night before came crashing down upon the Snake Knight like a 200-pound anvil and he shot upright to a sitting position, taking in his surroundings. As his still-sensitive eyes came in contact with the sunlight he shrunk back and cringed, but after a few moments he was on his feet, dusting off his cloak and brushing the bits of debris left from Terra's rock-storm off of his purple-black bodysuit. When at last he looked presentable, Shadow woke up Dmitri by rousing him with a gentle shake that slowly increased in force until it got the job done. Dmitri awoke shocked, much like Shadow had done, but he too was soon on his feet and somewhat ready for the day ahead of him.

Throughout all of this Beast Boy had simply been looking on in a quizzical yet stunned expression, but now that both sleepers were off the floor, he thought it was OK to break the silence.

"So… um, you guys sleep alright last night?"

It was meant as a joke, of course, but neither the angel nor the vampangel was in the mood for something that mocked their restlessness after the pandemonium of the previous night that they had been made to suffer though. As their gazes hardened and the veins began to stand out on their foreheads, eyebrows twitching and fists clenched, the changeling began to realize that this time, his joke might have consequences.

"Are…" began Shadow, his voice low and dangerous,

"You…" continued Dmitri, his voice as threatening as his friend's, if not more-so,

"KIDDING US!?" They both shouted out together, simultaneously incredulous and stark-raving furious that someone would have the audacity to make a joke like that.

"Do you have any idea what we had to deal with last night, Beast Boy?" Shadowcobra inquired, his voice keen and sharp with an edge that could have cut steel.

"Between Pluto's howling, Terra's nightmare and Draco and Jinx doing… whatever it was they were doing," Dmitri explained, edging around the risqué nature of the Dragon Knight and Hex Mistress' activity the night before, "we had to resort to Shadow's 'magic-juice' to get any rest at all! And now, here I am, head still woozy and feeling like I have the grandmother of all hangovers, only to have someone come out all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to ask me _how I slept_?"

"Just be lucky you still have your kneecaps." The Snake Knight finished acidly, letting the threat hang in the air, unspoken but certainly understood. Beast Boy quailed briefly under the two laser-like gazes before going to make breakfast for the rest of the team and Dmitri, while the two friends sat down at the kitchen table to finish their game of chess. The board was still sitting, miraculously unmolested, in the exact place it had been when the two players had called the game off, so no time was lost in resuming the heated contest, which fittingly ended in a dead-even draw as soon as the door slid open again. This time, it was Raven who walked through, and Shadow's expression brightened considerably. Dmitri intuited that these two were involved with each other somehow, and his guess was proven correct as Raven floated swiftly and surely over to give Shadow a heartfelt and loving embrace. Shadow basked in the warmth for a few moments while Dmitri tried not to stare. When Ichijyo noticed how awkward his friend seemed to feel he reluctantly broke out of the hug, a smile now gracing his face.

"And how is my favorite little blackbird this morning?"

"Good. How was your night? Did you sleep well?"

Dmitri half-expected Shadow to look irate, to be snappy, to do at least _something_ snide, but all he did was shrug.

"It could've been better," was all he said. Dmitri was surprised, to say the least. 'She must really mean a lot to him, for him to restrain himself like that,' the fallen Angel thought to himself. Shadow brought Dmitri's attention rocketing back to the present.

"Raven, luv, you haven't met Dmitri yet, have you?"

"No, I don't think I have," the empath said, turning to face Dmitri and extending her hand to shake. "I'm Raven, nice to meet you."

Dmitri reciprocated the gesture, surprised to feel that Raven's hand was slightly colder than normal. But the angel could sense a demonic aura around Raven, so perhaps that was why.

"I'm Dmitri. It's nice to meet you, too, Raven."

The three of them chatted for a while about one thing or another, eventually ending up with Raven asking Dmitri about what it was like being up in Heaven with so many other angel, and what the place looked like. Shadow was prepared to call his girlfriend off if Dmitri didn't want to talk about it again, but instead the angel got a huge smile on his face. The look in his eyes was of someone fondly recalling good times from their childhood, and Shadow was surprised at the notion that there was something good Dmitri had glossed over when he first told his story. Then again, the shock probably had only helped to bring the bad memories to the forefront while suppressing the good ones.

"Well, Raven, since you asked so nicely I'll tell you about some of my childhood, how about that?" Raven assented enthusiastically and Dmitri began to tell many funny stories about how Ezekiel, his caretaker, had tried in vain to discipline him and wound up chasing his around the library for a good twenty minutes before catching up with him and making him copy down Shakespeare for hours on end. Then all three of them started swapping short anecdotes, and had quite a good time doing so. That bubble of tranquility was busted open, though, by two very familiar words, shouted not ten feet away from the three teenagers.

"MEAT!"

"TOFU!"

"MEAT!"

Beast Boy and Cyborg were almost at each other's throats it was so intense, and Dmitri was just shocked by the bizarreness of the whole scene, a blank look on his face until Raven saw this and explained the situation.

"Don't freak out, this is actually perfectly normal."

"Or about as relatively normal as it gets around here, anyway," Shadow chimed in, disinterested after having seen this spectacle so many times.

"See, Beast Boy can change into the form of any animal he wants to. And, after experiencing life through the eyes of said animals, he decided to become a vegetarian," Raven began to explain further. "Cyborg, on the other hand, is a meat-loving, barbequing cook who fully embraces his inner carnivore. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, they get into these types of fights quite often. Whenever food is involved, in fact."

Dmitri nodded his understanding, but he was still confused by the display. Little did he know, his life was about to get weirder with the arrival of a certain Tamaranian through the doors into the main room. Starfire was carrying a suspiciously gelatinous object that seemed to have a variety of insects and other pointy things protruding from its surface. She scanned the room, found Dmitri, and zoomed gleefully over to him.

"Oh, new friend Dmitri! It is glorious to see you on such a wonderful morning!" Dmitri was slightly taken aback, but he couldn't keep from smiling in the presence of so much happiness.

"It's nice to see you again too, uh…"

"Oh, where have my manners gone to? My name is Starfire, of the planet Tamaran. I have brought you the traditional welcoming pudding of my homeworld. Do you not wish to try some?"

Dmitri looked sketchily down at the blob in front of him. His eyes found something that was still squirming, and he felt a knot form in his stomach.

"Um, Starfire?" the alien looked at the angel expectantly, who had yet to stretch out his wings. "Is that thing _still alive_?" Starfire looked down curiously upon her creation, while Dmitri, Raven and Shadow were all more than a little nauseous by this point.

"Oh, yes," Starfire exclaimed after a few moments' pause, "that is the species of the Kiljorbag parasite native to my homeworld. They are very resilient creatures, known to survive the stomach acids of even the mightiest klorbag beast!"

With a mighty strain, the three observers barely kept their gut-wrenching instinct in check. Dmitri screwed up his courage and looked into those wide, hopeful eyes.

"Starfire?"

"Yes, Dmitri?"

"Is there… erm… any way I could try this later?"

Starfire seemed to have feared rejection, but mellowed out instantly.

"Of course! I will merely place it in the container that refrigerates food items."

Dmitri sighed, relieved that he had dodged the bullet, while Raven and Shadow had vanished, presumably to race to their respective bathrooms.

The angel looked around him at the content, warm tower full of people he was sure he could become good friends with in time, and thought about how lucky he had been to wind up here. But then a pang of guilt tugged at the back of his mind.

_Alicia…_

He had left here up there, in the Empyrean, all alone. He was sorry, of course, but he had no other choice. Reaching down into one of the pockets of the pants he wore under his armor, the angel felt a smooth, cool ring tenderly with his fingers, the same one Alicia had given him just before he had left in a tearful and heartfelt goodbye. Dmitri sighed sadly wondering how she was doing.

* * *

Alicia sat on her bed, misty-eyed and lonely, thinking thoughts very similar to those of her boyfriend down on Earth. Her whole body was weary; she had finally just finished a grueling archery practice that had gone from sun-up until the point that even her incredibly sharp eyes were too tired to see. Alicia had been extremely bitter that she had been pushed so unusually hard by Ashur, her teacher, and she wasn't going to accept it without an explanation.

"Okay, old man," she had said, anger tinting her voice, "why in Manitou's name did you haul me out here at the crack of dawn to shoot at targets 300 yards away for hours on end? I'm _exhausted_ now, damn you!"

Ashur had just smirked, toying with how to deliver the news to his lovely little student. He knew (hell, the entire damn _Council_ knew) that Alicia was quite fond of the heretic fallen angel they were going to be hunting down. He just couldn't wait to see the pained look on her face when he told her that the Council was considering sending her to hunt down her _own boyfriend_. Oh, how beautiful her tears would be!

"Well, dearest Alicia," her teacher said this with a distinctively creepy leer in his voice, one that made Alicia's gut do back-flips, "as you know, the rogue Angel of Death, the one they call Dmitri," Ashur didn't fail to notice the way Alicia's breath caught in her chest, or the anticipation she was now exuding. These emotions, in turn, caused a gleam of pure sadism to shine in Ashur's blue eyes before he continued, "has escaped. Because of his traitorous actions, the almighty Tzarion Council has decided to send the full brunt of its might against him. They will hunt him down, and their watchful eyes will not rest until he has fallen unto the death from which he was spawned." Ashur found the terror that struck Alicia's soul in that instant to be absolutely exquisite.

The sad but true fact of the matter was that the only thing that separated some angels from demons was their title, choice of habitat, and whether they had stuck by the Great Spirit during the War against Lucifer. Time had changed many of those once-pure souls, who were now rife with corruption and had connived the power out of the Great Spirit's hands and into their own. These 'angels' now composed the Tzarion Council and safely reveled in their debauchery. And, to make matters worse the Great Spirit, far from the omniscient image he was thought of as was blind to it all, so far. Ashur was another of the more wicked angels, who desired Alicia and wasn't going to stop until he had her. If part of that meant he was going to have to bend her mentally until she broke, so be it.

The moonlight shone pitifully down on Alicia's face, as if empathizing with the pain and the tears that rushed down the young angel's cheeks in a torrent of grief. Too heart-broken to speak, she wrapped her wings around her and vanished in a flash of golden light. No doubt, Ashur thought with a smirk, to weep her eyes out.

"Pleasant dreams, little Aquila," the older angel thought lecherously, "soon you will be mine."

* * *

And so it had come to pass that Alicia, one of the few remaining Aquila angels, was sitting on her bed alone and grief-stricken. Her melancholy attitude was threatening to give way to bitter tears, so in an effort to keep her emotions at bay the distraught angel quickly sharpened one of her knives on a whetstone and threw it at her wall with all her might, where it became embedded up to the hilt. This quick burst of aggression brought nothing but frustration and emptiness, however, and the tears finally broke through Alicia's feeble resistance, falling hard and fast like raindrops. Exhausted and with no more tears to cry, she fell back on her bed and curled up into a fetal position, silently praying that Dmitri would be alright and that she wouldn't have to hunt him down. Slowly but surely, the angel's beautiful eyes fluttered closed and soon she was fast asleep, dreaming of a certain Angel of Death who had been forced to leave her alone.

"Hey, buddy, are you OK?"

Dmitri was jolted out of his melancholy state of mind by Draco's solicitous tone and he jerked slightly, shocked. His eyes darted around nervously until he recognized where he was and calmed down. His hand came slowly out of his pocket, clenched in a tight fist around the ring. He placed his fist on the table and let it relax open, the white ring falling and meeting the table's surface with a rather strong thud, as if it was made out of something very heavy. The angel blinked his eyes a couple times and sighed.

"Yeah," he said wearily, "I was just thinking, that's all."

"Oh, OK." Draco had thought there was something wrong with their newest guest, and so he had gone over to make sure everything was alright once Dmitri had been zoned out for more than half an hour and the Titans had elected to give him his space. "I'm Draco, by the way," the Dragon Knight added, extending his hand cordially. Dmitri took it with as much enthusiasm as he could muster after such a draining bout of introspection.

"I'm Dmitri. It's nice to meet you," was all he could get out given the lethargy weighing him down. Draco immediately saw that there was something wrong and, after putting some waffles down in front of the angel, decided to see if there was anything he could do to help.

"Is there something bothering you, Dmitri-san?"

Dmitri looked sidelong at the Dragon Knight, wondering if he should open up about something so personal to someone he barely knew. But the angel sensed nothing but genuine concern and good intentions. His face softened and the angel sighed, collecting himself before he re-opened his fresh scars.

"Sorry about being an ass back there, it's just that, well… I was forced into a rather awkward position recently, and I have a lot to think about."

"No worries, my friend," Dmitri was surprised: Draco knew nothing about him and he was already a 'friend' to him? Well, at least it was nice to know that the world still had good people in it. "I shouldn't have disturbed you; that was my fault. But if there's anything you want to talk about, just let me know and I'll be all ears." Dmitri was so affected by this display of friendliness and good will that he decided to bite the bullet and take Draco up on his offer. After all, he was going to have to deal with his emotions soon or he was going to start getting ulcers, and if there was one thing Dmitri knew it was that you never, ever passed up a golden opportunity.

"Actually, now that you mention it, there are some things I'd like to get off of my chest. Do you mind being my shrink for the next half-hour?"

Draco grinned gamely, just glad that he could use his time to help someone out.

"Not at all. What's on your mind?"

"Well, where should I start… has Shadow told you guys about my 'situation' yet?"

"No," the Dragon Knight replied evenly, "I think Robin was going to ask you about it later, when the whole team is here."

"Oh." Dmitri was put off slightly by this statement; he didn't want to be forced to spill his guts to everyone on the team like it was an interrogation. Then again, he told himself, if they're going to have a celestial fugitive on their team they need to know just what it is they're getting into.

"In that case," Dmitri continued, relieved again and picking up the pure white ring, which was engraved with golden runes, "let me tell you about this ring, and who gave it to me," he said with a classic storyteller tone, before digging into his waffles with vigor.

* * *

Alicia awoke in the middle of the afternoon to the noise of a boisterous crowd nearby. She literally flew out of bed and got dressed, curiosity burning in her like an inferno. The normal denizens of the Empyrean _never_ gathered together in mobs; they were usually too haughty to do something like that. But sure enough, when the Aquila angel stepped out of her little house and onto the main street of the domain a huge crowd was sweeping down the thoroughfare. Alicia got over her shock long enough to scan the crowd for any familiar faces. When she saw old Ezekiel in the throng, she knew whatever it was that had caused this commotion was huge; 'Zeke almost never left the library for anything, let alone something that grabbed the attention of the mob crowd. She ran over to him before he was swept away and tugged urgently on one of his sleeves. The librarian turned to face her, confused for a moment. When he recognized who she was, though, his face lit up in a huge smile and he spoke cheerfully.

"Dear girl, it's nice to see you again! What brings you out here this fine afternoon?" Alicia was happy to hear his voice again; When he called her 'dear', it was paternal and full of care, whereas Ashur was just creepy and disturbing whenever he said…well, anything, really.

"What are all of these angels doing out here in this crowd, grandfather?" Alicia used this as a term of endearment; the two angels weren't actually related. At this Ezekiel seemed to jolt back to the reality of the situation, for his expression darkened and became downtrodden.

"Everyone's been talking about the plan of action the Council is going to take against Dmitri for a while now; it seems as though the Council is in the midst of deliberating on their course of action right now."

A dozen thoughts darted through Alicia's mind in that moment. She had to find some way to overhear the Council's decision. If she could figure out what they were doing in time, she could go warn Dmitri before the danger even got there. And if she was one of the unlucky chosen, she could try to delay the other assassins to give Dmitri a chance to get the head's up. Either way, she had to hurry.

"Thank you for the news, grandpa," was all she said, and after giving Ezekiel a hasty kiss on the cheek of appreciation and affection she took to the skies. She spread her white wings to their fullest before zooming off like a bat out of hell, aimed right for the council chambers that loomed like a temple in the distance, its spires gleaming gold and crimson in the sun.

* * *

"Wow…" was all Draco could muster after Dmitri had finished his story about Alicia, "she seems like a really neat girl, not to mention really, _really_ kawaii, that's for sure. And she must really love you if she gave you that ring as a memento, if it was that important to her. I'm sorry you had to lose her."

"Not lose, buddy," Dmitri corrected, "misplace. To lose would mean there was no way I'd find her again, and I'm not about to lose someone like her, no way."

Draco smiled; he was encouraged by Dmitri's determination and his resolve not to lose hope; it reminded Draco a lot of himself, actually. The Dragon Knight found that he wouldn't mind having the angel around, but that was for Robin and the other core Titans to decide. 'Speak of the devil,' he thought, 'here he comes now.' Then Draco remembered something he's forgotten to say, and he quickly turned to Dmitri.

"Hey Dmitri-san!" he said, his voice a low, conspiratorial whisper.

"Yeah?" Dmitri whispered back, using the same kind of tone.

"Don't tell Jinx I said I thought your girlfriend sounded cute, OK? I don't want to have to sleep on the couch for a week!"

The angel grinned to himself and thought about doing something mean as paybacks for when Draco and Jinx had kept him and Shadow awake, but he decided not to be a total ass.

"Okay, my friend," he said, moving his fingers over his lips in a 'my-lips-are-sealed' gesture, "your secret's safe with me."

Draco only had time to flip Dmitri a thumbs-up before Robin had reached the table and called everyone else over.

"Well," the leader of the Titans said, his voice 110 business, "I think it's time for everyone who hasn't already met our new visitor to do so, before he tells us a bit about himself and how he wound up here."

Everyone had sat down at the table by this point, and Dmitri was flanked by Draco and Shadow, while Jinx and Raven sat next to them, respectively. The Knight in blue, whom Dmitri assumed by process of elimination was Pluto sat next to someone who looked like a black-haired version of Starfire, while Beast Boy sat next to a shy-looking girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Dmitri also noticed that Raven had changed into a white version of her uniform, which contrasted beautifully with her hair and eyes. He forced himself to look away, though, lest Shadowcobra get the wrong idea and the angel wound up on the business end of that cobra scepter. The cyborg seemed like the odd man out in terms of having a distinct person to sit next to, but it also didn't seem to faze him much at all as he was currently chatting with Pluto while waiting for his turn to be introduced.

"I'm Jinx," the pink-haired sorceress said perkily.

"Blackfire," was all the black-haired alien said, though her tone was not unkind, simply terse. Dmitri intuited from this that Blackfire was somehow related to Starfire.

"Zodiac Knight of the Dog Pluto, at your service," the Knight in blue said jovially, "or you can call me Pluto or Takada, if the whole title's a bit of a mouthful for ya."

"You can call me Cyborg," said the cyborg. Dmitri chuckled lightly. At least the name fit the face; there was no doubt about that.

"I'm Terra," said the blond girl next to Beast Boy lightly. Even though she seemed a bit frail on the outside, Dmitri could appreciate the fact that she had a deep inner strength that shone like a beacon in her aura, and he immediately respected that.

"And I'm Robin," the leader said with finality, bringing a resounding end to the introductions. "So, Dmitri, is that right?" Dmitri simply nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable that his wings hadn't been out for so long; he really needed to stretch them or they were going to cramp inside his back, which would be really painful.

"Well, why don't you tell us about how you wound up here, and why? Also, I'd be interested in knowing exactly how it was that you were able to defeat Plasmus so easily."

Dmitri took a deep breath before beginning his tale. Shadow gave him a look that clearly said 'If you want me to cover for you I can,' but Dmitri was determined to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him Manitou. He sent a small shake of his head back at Shadow, who understood and shortly nodded his support.

Dmitri wondered what the best way would be to open up his story and thought of an answer that would kill two birds with one stone. He unfurled his wings to full span, flexed them slightly, and began.

"Well, as I'm sure you can all tell from the wings, I'm an angel." Terra breathed in with shock at how beautiful the burgundy wings were, as did Jinx and Starfire. At this point, Dmitri took a deep breath mentally before plunging into the deep end. "But I'm not just _any_ angel, you need to understand. Like Shadowcobra over there," here he jerked his thumb over at Shadow briefly before continuing, "I am a unique angel. A really unique one, in fact. You see, I'm kinda… the Angel of Death."

The silence was absolutely deafening.

Dmitri paused for a moment, to see if anyone exclaimed surprise, disbelief or fear, but when everyone who didn't already know this about Dmitri was too stunned to speak, the angel soldiered on as if there hadn't been a pause at all.

"But I didn't come down here to kill all of you, or anything like that, believe me," at this reassurance a collective breath was exhaled from everyone present, except Raven and Shadow, of course. At this, Dmitri inwardly smirked. 'So _that's_ what they were worried about huh?' he thought. 'Can't say I blame 'em, though. I'd be freaked out too if someone with wings told me he was the Angel of Death.'

"Far from it, in fact," Dmitri continued, unimpeded by his pause. "I have come because I am in dire need of your assistance. You see, I am a fugitive, wrongly exiled from my home, and sooner or later those who engineered my exodus are going to try to hunt me down and kill me in cold blood."

There were a few gasps from around the room, mostly from the girls. They seemed to be hanging on his every word already, and Dmitri paused a bit to glory in the feeling before smacking himself mentally and having Caesar scream in his ear that this wasn't the right time for games.

"So, before you consider me a friend or even an ally please hear my story, at which point you will all be free to chose whether or not it is worth the risk of having me in any way associated with you all." After a solemn nod from Robin, Dmitri began a reprise of his story, and noted with gratitude that Shadow was still listening intently the second time around.

* * *

Alicia gasped air in sharply as her lungs still seared from over-exertion; she must have flown 10 miles in 30 minutes, or maybe even less time than that. Nevertheless, whatever pain she was feeling right now was secondary to securing Dmitri's safety by and means necessary. She silently slipped into the antechamber of the Council's fortress, and the guards let her pass further in unopposed. 'They must think I'm here as a potential candidate or something,' she thought, and then she realized that that might very well be the truth. 'At least I can use this to my advantage,' she told herself, struggling not to think and depressing thoughts involving her having to hunt down her boyfriend. Suddenly she stopped dead and hugged the nearest wall as she heard Malachi's voice float down the wide hallway. Malachi was one of the more prestigious members of the Council, which basically meant that he was more of a ruthless, heartless, unforgiving and greedy bastard than most of his colleagues.

"So it's settled, then," he said, his voice smooth as ice made of frozen acid. "The Aquila, Alicia, will not be sent on the hunt for the Scion." Alicia let out a huge breath, so relieved she felt like doing a jig and screaming out her jubilation at the top of her lungs when karma chose that moment to give her the sucker-punch of the millennium.

"Instead we will send out Enoch, and… Lord Koroga will accompany him. They will not fail us. Any objections to this proposal?"

Alicia thought she had died and her soul had been yanked straight down into perdition at warp speed. If she hadn't been rooted to the spot, she would have collapsed to the floor and started sobbing. Koroga? They were sending fucking _Koroga_ after Dmitri? He didn't have a chance in _hell_ of standing up to the Lord of the Kitsune, even if he _had _mastered his new powers to some extent! He was a dead man walking already!

But Fortune was a strange and fickle mistress, and she had apparently chosen not to be such a bitch and had thrown Alicia a bone.

"I do have one objection, my Lord." It was Koroga's deep voice, as captivating as the flashing lightning and as deep as the rolling thunder. "I do not wish to simply accost this 'Dmitri' youth and butcher him like an animal; it does not seem honorable to me, and from my point of view his being born was not his fault."

Alicia didn't know how many more mood swings she could take before her heart gave out on her. Maybe there was hope yet for her loved one. However, Fortune seemed to be going through PMS and thought it the right time to give Alicia a blindside tackle at 100 miles an hour.

"Lord Koroga, with all due respect," spoke up Ekarion, another vicious and twisted angel, "please try to remember that the position you hold was given to you by us angels, and it can be taken away just as easily. Moreover, it would behoove you to recall what hangs in the balance should you refuse us or fail to obey any of our direct commands." Ekarion left the threat unspoken, but Koroga heard it loud and clear: if he failed them, his entire clan would be put to the sword, and he would be banished back down to Hell, where he would no doubt be treated as a traitor and dealt with accordingly. Alicia wept inwardly with pity for this noble creature: he had a good heart, that could be seen, but he was being pressed into service nonetheless, forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. The Aquila angel could almost see Koroga's majestic head bowing in defeat.

"Very well, my lords, I accept. I will follow Enoch, and together we will deal with this traitor as you desire."

"Excellent choice, Koroga," Malachi declared. "Go now with Enoch, and do not fail us. Be mindful of this: you take orders from him, and to defy him is to defy us. Remember this always and no harm with come to your tribe. Go now, and may you have good fortune in battle."

Alicia did cry at this point, but she choked her tears off before she had lost all of her wits. Gathering her energies about her she wrapped her wings around her and teleported to her house to gather all she might need, and then she jumped again to the nearest border between the Empyrean and the outside world, muttering one last prayer to whatever god or demon might listen with a favorable ear before she jumped off of the could back and began to soar down to the world below, the wind whistling in her ears. She just hoped she wasn't already too late.

* * *

Dmitri finished his story, explaining about the 'prophecy', how he was going to be tracked down by the armies of the Empyrean and how they would stop at no lengths to ensure his untimely demise. He hung his head in silence and waited for the rebuke to come from everyone except Draco, Raven and Shadow, but when it did not arrive like a bolt of thunder Dmitri looked up to study the faces of his maybe-soon-to-be allies. It looked like they were split dead even between wanting to help and wanting to stay the hell out of something so big, complicated and deadly. It came down to Robin to decide and he sat in his chair, pondering the issue nervously. On the one hand he felt morally obligated to help Dmitri out in his time of crisis, but doing so risked getting the whole team slaughtered for being guilty by association in the minds of these clearly bigoted and power-hungry angels. As he sat stewing in thought, Draco clasped Dmitri's shoulder as a gesture of support, and the fallen angel took heart. Even if the whole team did not necessarily agree to help him, perhaps there would be a few who would be willing to give their support.

Robin's pregnant silence was broken rather unexpectedly and harshly by the voice of none other than Yaminekoryu, Draco's demon, who had apparently decided that now was a better time than ever to contribute a piece of wisdom.

"I'm not even going to ask for permission to speak," the demon said, stroking his spectral whiskers briskly as his voice came out of Draco's mouth. The other Titans, from the times this demon took control of Draco's body, recognized it as him completely. "I'm just going to go ahead and do it to save you guys all the trouble of getting' your panties in knots. Look," he plowed on, ignoring the guys' insulted expressions, "these angels seem like pretty cutthroat bastards who hate anything that might threaten their power, or even anything that just looks at 'em funny. Now, I ain't no rocket scientist, but my guess is that as soon as these guys get here, and they _will_ get here soon, make no mistake about that, they aren't just going to be keeping their eyes peeled for my man Dmitri over there. They're also going to be looking for anything they can scoop up on the side, which includes demons, half-demons and vampire-angel hybrids. To fight those guys off we're going to need all the help we can get. The way I see it," Yaminekoryu paused for a moment before delivering his finale, "we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't. So I figure, what the hell, we have nothing to lose, so we might as well take Dmitri into the fold and have him help prepare us for what's to come. Knowledge is power, after all."

The demon faded, Draco blinking in confusion at what had happened. His speech had seemed to change the air in the room drastically. No longer was Robin mulling over the thoughts in his head; now his face was hard, his expression firm, and if you could've seen his eyes, they would've been real keen just then. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Yaminekoryu has made some excellent points that speak in favor of letting Dmitri stay…" the anxious drawing-in of breath was a distinctly audible hiss that pervaded the room for a moment that lasted an eternity, "and so I say we should do just that. Welcome aboard, my friend, and I hope to God you're ready to help us prepare for whatever storm you say is coming."

Dmitri fought the urge to shout out, jump for joy and sing a spiritual.

"I will endeavor my best not to fail you, my friends," he said. "It is the least I can do to repay your faith in me."

The meeting was silently adjourned, and everyone went their separate ways to think about the bridge they had just crossed. Some did it in the comforting company of their significant others, some did it by themselves. Dmitri merely stood on the roof, watching the sun dip low in the sky and wondering just what the future held for him, his friends, and the Empyrean itself. He shed a single tear of gratitude for his acceptance, composed himself, and walked back inside to get some rest. He was sure he was going to need it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Fallen Angel Chapter 6: The Coming Storm**

**Originally Written By: Jazzpha**

* * *

"So, here's how I see it happening."

Dmitri was sitting in the main room of the tower, discussing his plan for a 'training session' with the rest of the team. After all, Robin _had_ asked him to make sure to help them be ready for the challenges that were coming and Dmitri was more than happy to take him up on that offer.

"Two rounds. First, it's the five of you," here he gestured at the main team, "versus me. Then, about five minutes after that, it's Team Two's turn." His arm swept over the three Knights, Jinx, Blackfire and Terra. "Five on one, then six on one. Easy as that. Any questions?"

As much as Draco knew that this training was going to be crucial to their survival if the situation was as grim as Dmitri had said, he was still anxious for his friend's well-being. To him, to fight both teams with only five minutes of a break in between was borderline suicidal. Or it would have been, if they were playing for keeps rather than just training.

"Dmitri-san," he said, the concern evident in his tone, "are you sure that this is such a good idea? I'm afraid to think that you would be willing to fight our team exhausted and at anything less than full strength. Why put yourself through something that grueling?" The angel merely looked at his friend and smiled.

"Draco," his tone was calm, but not insincere, "don't forget, this is also for my benefit as well as yours. I have almost no actual experience with all of this power and knowledge that was dumped on me and I, too, must grow as a fighter if I hope to survive this struggle. The best way for me to do that would be to get as close to an actual simulation of the kinds of battles I would face as I can.

"Understand, these people won't always wait for their opponents to be well-rested. To them, honor is a flimsy thing that can be stretched to fit what they desire at any given moment. If you're exhausted they will beat you down even more. If your back is turned they will break your spine without hesitation. Give them any opening, and they will exploit it without mercy. We're talking about the some of the most primal and savage fighters ever, my friend. And if I don't push myself as hard as I'm pushing all of you, none of this will make a difference."

Everyone solemnly nodded their assent, and Dmitri rose from his seat, turning towards the door.

"I'm going to brush up on my skills for about ten minutes; I'll see you all in the training room then."

All of the Titans rose and went their separate ways, the gravity of the situation finally starting to bear down on them as they realized just what it was they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

Two figures walked slowly and methodically down a street in Jump City. One of them was a short, stocky man with red hair and brown eyes who looked to be in his thirties, while the other was a wizened old Japanese man who walked with a cane in his right hand. There was nothing apparently out of the ordinary when it came to these two figures, that one could _see_, anyway, but the truth was that they were none other than Enoch and Koroga respectively, the two beings who had been sent down to eliminate Dmitri and anyone else who stood in the way of their objective. Enoch looked over to his left and spoke to the 'elderly' demon fox.

"So, Koroga, what does all of this mean to you?"

The old man snorted derisively. "If you are trying to determine whether or not my heart is in this enterprise by my response, Enoch, you are out of luck. I will do as I have been ordered to do, with no more enthusiasm than is needed."

Enoch laughed shortly, silently acknowledged that he had been caught, and tried a different tack.

"Do you think the prophecy involving the Scion is true, Ancient One?"

Koroga paused, thinking for a moment before he answered.

"If it is true or not does not matter at this point, Enoch. Given what the Council has done and what they have sent us to do, they have already crossed their Rubicon, and there is no turning back now. If we do not kill the Scion, or whatever he may be, he will kill us all and that is all there is to it. The 'prophecy' is irrelevant. One thing I will say, though, is that I fear for the future of the Council. They seem to be underestimating the resilience of this 'Dmitri'. Something tells me he won't roll over and take this lying down, which is how the Council seems to predict he will react."

"Regardless of whether or not he fights us, Koroga, he _will_ die and there is no mistaking that. If I do not defeat him there is no doubt that you are more than powerful enough to do so," Enoch said, "so I do not see defeat anywhere in the near future of the glorious Council."

"Whatever you say, Seraph," Koroga responded, disdain evident in his voice. "But you must also remember that there are various factions within the Empyrean who would love nothing more than to see the Tzarion Council fall into ruin. As soon as they have their hands full with fighting the Scion, these clans will sweep in and harass the Council until it is destroyed. Once that had been accomplished, the power vacuum will be wide open for the filling. Believe me, I've been alive a lot longer than you ever will be, Seraph. Every empire that rises eventually falls, and nothing will stop that cycle."

"But if the Council falls, so does your clan, Kitsune. Be mindful of that."

Koroga simply nodded sadly and kept going, the cane he didn't need thudding on the ground with each step he took.

* * *

Robin's punch missed, and Dmitri simply used his momentum to shove him into the wall of the training room with a crunch before he turned his attention to Starfire, who was now understandably upset. But her anger was working to her disadvantage, and she was fighting erratically. Dmitri simply dodged all of her starbolts while flying rapidly up towards her, eventually knocking her out with a vicious knee to the solar plexus, although he did cradle her fall with a net of energy under her as she descended. Two down, three to go.

Beast Boy made an elementary mistake, immediately turning into the biggest, fiercest animal he could imagine. Against a large target, this wouldn't have been a problem, but compared to a T-Rex Dmitri was small, incredibly fast, flew and had much better reflexes. By the time Beast Boy realized how huge his disadvantage was it was already far too late to do anything about it. Within about five seconds the changeling had been hit everywhere he knew he could be, plus a few more places he didn't even know he had nerve endings. Beast Boy fell into a pain-induced state of unconsciousness as Dmitri ceased his relentless assault, and just like that Raven and Cyborg were the only ones left standing.

Cyborg was taken out with a well placed and lightning-fast blast of energy to his battery pack, shutting him down and sending him to the mat before he could even get his first volley off. Raven was furious that she was the last one standing, and she let loose with a huge barrage of black energy, hoping to overwhelm Dmitri, while he just stood still and smirked, seemingly waiting for the attack to slam into him.

* * *

Shadow had known what Dmitri was doing from the very beginning, and as soon as Raven launched her offensive the Snake Knight hung his head. It was obvious that the angel was trying to prove that, even if you had all of the power in the world, without control, speed and skill it would mean nothing when up against an opponent who had those three things. Sure enough, Dmitri raised his hand at the last possible moment and revealed the ace up his sleeve.

"Fermas." With this simple incantation, the dark energy halted in its tracks, frozen by the sheer force of Dmitri's spell. Shadow already knew what was coming next, and he had to hold himself back to avoid interfering. He would have his chance to avenge his loved one soon enough.

"Revocatis." As Dmitri voiced this second incantation in a powerful tone, all of the energy that had been sent out was reflected at the one who had sent it out, namely Raven. Overloaded by the amount of energy that slammed into her all at the same time, the dark empath fell to the ground with a groan, although she refused to fully acknowledge defeat by slipping into unconsciousness. Shadow knew that this phase of the exercise was over, and so he rushed out to heal his teammates. Dmitri didn't stop him; he was too busy resting up for round 2, which he knew was going to be a much harder fight for various reasons. First and foremost were the three Zodiac Knights, of course, but the rest of the team was also composed of people who were more ruthless than the main Titans. After the predetermined five minutes had passed, Dmitri stood up from his lotus position, stretched out his wings, looked at the Z-Titans team, and shouted:

"Next!" The team rushed out into the arena and the battle was on.

* * *

Javier finished his drink just as the door of the bar slammed open and a tall man with a trench-coat on, black hair and a chiseled face. If he hadn't been wearing his jacket two black wings would be clearly visible sprouting from his back: This man was in fact none other than Antonio, Lord of the Death Knights.

Antonio sat down next to Javier, while the youth pretended not to notice his presence. After a few moments in silence, Javier gave up and spoke.

"What the fuck do you want, Antonio?"

"I think you know the answer to that question, Javi. My offer is still on the table, but if you wait too much longer I don't know if it will stay there."

"And like I told you before," the youth spat back, "your offer isn't good enough. Quit screwing around and come up with a better deal or I might just call up Lance and tell him I'm ready to enlist."

"As you wish," Antonio said, getting up slowly and letting his next remark hang in the air, "but you won't be able to wait forever. Each day you delay makes you weaker and weaker, and sooner or later you are going to have to make a choice, one way or the other. For your sake, make the right one, Javier."

With that, the Lord of the Death Knights left the bar and walked back out onto the street, while Javi ordered two more drinks and downed them in 10 seconds. Why wouldn't the Crusaders and Death Knights just leave him in peace?

* * *

Alicia flew thorough the sky like a bullet, homing in on the nearest angelic signal she could find. She was hoping that she would be closer to Dmitri than Enoch and Koroga were, but as soon as she saw a stocky man walking next to an elderly Japanese guy she knew she had screwed up. Silently cursing her mistake, Alicia realized that she could actually turn this to her benefit: sooner or later Koroga and Enoch were going to run into Dmitri at the Tower, and they probably knew exactly where they were going. If she could tail them the right way to avoid getting caught, she could find Dmitri _and_ have the element of surprise on her side if she ever needed to help out. Satisfied with this win-win situation and not bothering to dwell on what would actually _happen_ when Enoch and Koroga showed up to face Dmitri down, the angel silently tailed the pair of hunters. She was hoping they wouldn't notice they were being followed, or that they just wouldn't care.

* * *

This time, Dmitri was actually enjoying himself. This team was actually working together flawlessly, rather than attacking as individual pieces. As soon as he had swerved out of the way of frozen hex balls courtesy of Jinx and Zodiac Knight Draco attacking together, starbolts blazing with electricity would come at him from the other direction, along with Zodiac Knight Pluto and Blackfire in person. Add the invisible rocks Terra and Zodiac Knight Shadowcobra were working together to make, and Dmitri was getting almost no chance to counterattack. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. Suddenly however, by freak chance, the various attacks actually gave Dmitri an opening.

Jumping nimbly along the frozen hex orbs, careful not to break them and unleash the hex within them, Dmitri gained a substantial amount of time to compose himself and height above his foes to go with it. Far from stopping at that, though, Dmitri used the magical aura around the cloaked boulders to guide his jumps even higher as he went from boulder to boulder, dodging the electric bolts as he went. As he reached the peak point of his journey upwards Dmitri unfurled his wings and wrapped them around himself like a drill-point, spinning around before rocketing towards the ground and smashing into it with a monstrous impact, knocking out Jinx, Blackfire and Terra in one fell swoop.

"HEY!" Pluto shouted, "He totally ripped off my move! You can't DO that!"

Dmitri merely smirked in response to the Dog Knight's indignation.

"Why don't you go cry about it some more, Takada?"

"Oh. I'll give you something to _cry_ about, bud!" Pluto slid a card into his sword. "Add Vent: Summoning Cerberus!"

A large, three-headed dog materialized out of seemingly-thin air, and Dmitri did a double take.

"Uhh…" he stood wavering for a second or two before continuing, "nice doggy?"

Unfortunately for the fallen angel, Cerberus was having nothing to do with a truce and leapt angrily at his master's foe, intent on doing some damage. Dmitri sidestepped the raving beast in a hurry but was blindsided by Genosnaker, Shadowcobra's monster. The venomous serpent spat a wad of acid at Dmitri which he barely dodged before the snake struck fast. Dmitri was lucky enough to evade THAT.

Coming to the realization that he had better things do be doing than being a chew-toy for a gigantic cobra, Dmitri spun around as fast as he possibly could, forcing the snake off of him and sending it whipping into the three-headed hellhound, effectively knocking out two birds with one stone. This only got rid of the pawns, though, and not their masters. Speaking of the devils, Pluto and Shadow were soon double-teaming the angel, both of them using their swords and putting a huge amount of pressure on Dmitri, who had to defend himself from two separate adversaries while also keeping his eye on the third, Draco, who had yet to make a move. When Dmitri saw that Draco had decided to deploy his Dragon Combustion Kick Final Vent, however, he smirked and knocked Shadow into the path of the attack, protecting himself while at the same time eliminating Shadow as a threat, who had been caught unprepared and had taken a relatively large amount of damage as a result from the flaming flying kick. Shadowcobra armor disappeared from the force of the strike itself.

Dmitri was beginning to tire quite rapidly, though, and his sword slashes became sluggish and predictable as a result. Growing more and more frustrated as Pluto landed more and more blows and Draco made up for his earlier mistake by nearly burning the feathers off of his wings, Dmitri gave in and let Caesar, his darker half, take the reins. Feeling his strength flow back into his veins following his transformation, Dmitri wasted no time in going back on the offensive.

Knowing that Pluto was immortal, the only way to defeat him here would be to thoroughly incapacitate him. Dmitri was running totally on instinct at this point, making him a truly unpredictable and dangerous foe. Pluto's problem was that he was still fighting Dmitri going by the basic rules of engagement, which didn't apply when facing a totally loose cannon.

"Guard Vent: Hell Shield!"

This was a last ditch measure of defense and both of the fighters knew it. Dmitri simply smashed right through it and chopped Pluto hard on the back of the neck, watching emotionlessly as his adversary crumpled, unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Pluto's armor vanished as did Shadowcobra's. The fallen angel could feel the massive drain that the transformation was exerting on him, so in an effort to avoid defeating himself through fatigue Dmitri powered down back into his normal form and turned to face Draco, who was uncertain with how to proceed against this seemingly new opponent.

"Hurry up and attack, Aibou!" Yaminekoryu voiced in his head. "He's switched back out of his alternate form, and he's tired as hell! Strike hard and fast, and finish this!"

Not one to second guess the advice of someone with massive amounts of experience Draco charged, determined to finish this brawl once and for all.

"Strike Vent: Wild Tiger Claws!"

Once the gauntlets had finished materializing Draco waded into close quarters and began slugging for all he was worth, seeking desperately to land a finishing blow. Dmitri was in equally dire straits, and he could feel his muscles burning. Unfortunately for him, being the Angel of Death didn't allow him to access the healing powers normally associated with his kind. As such, it wasn't like he could rejuvenate himself in the blink of an eye, and this disadvantage was all too apparent as Dmitri felt like a light poke was all it would take to topple him in this state.

Draco was striking viciously, giving in fully to the rage of battle, and he finally saw his opening. As he was just about to land the crippling blow, however, he hesitated. As much as he craved victory, he just couldn't bring himself to tap into his more brutal side and allow any part of Yaminekoryu's influence to surface.

Dmitri saw his opponent's hesitation and did not pass up on his golden opportunity, slamming his fist and then his knee into Draco's stomach in quick succession, dropping him to the ground. After he had caught his breath, Dmitri only asked a very simple question, rather than taunting his opponent.

"Why did you hold back, Draco?"

Draco wheezed and stood back up, still clutching his abdomen and struggling to catch his breath. His armor disappeared as well.

"I couldn't do it, Dmitri-san. I just couldn't let my demon take over, or I wouldn't have been able to control myself and I might have done something horrible."

Dmitri sighed heavily, exhaustion bearing down on him heavily, before he replied.

"But what did I tell you earlier, my friend? If you hold back against these foes, they won't thank you for it and let you on your way, they will exploit your moment of weakness and rip your heart out. You simply cannot let them have any sort of opening, or you risk losing your life. Do you understand that?"

Draco nodded reluctantly, not liking at all where this line of thought was taking them. If they needed to be so ruthless in order to stay alive, what separated them from the villains they were fighting? The Titans regrouped and rested with heavy hearts, the situation they had wound up in looming over them like a dark cloud of fear and tension.

* * *

Ekelo snapped out of his meditation, his head suddenly throbbing with pain. He could sense a demonic presence nearby, but it was a massive one, far larger than Raven's or even Trigon's had been. Trying to track it through his raging migraine of a headache was proving difficult, but with much effort Ekelo was able to determine that the demon was indeed heading along a determined path, one that seemed to lead right to… Titan's Tower.

Given that a demon capable of generating this power could very well destroy the world if they so chose, the fact that the demon was heading for the Tower was nothing but bad news. Determined to try and warn the Titans before something catastrophic happened, Ekelo sped towards the Tower as fast as he possibly could, hoping that he could reach his allies before whatever hellish presence was advancing reached them.

* * *

Unfortunately, the demon in question as well as his compatriot had already arrived at the Tower, about a minute before Ekelo was going to arrive.

The Titans had just finished resting and healing up from their grueling training session when suddenly a huge boom sounded outside of the Tower. The team, Dmitri included, rushed out to where the sound had originated. Enoch and the human form Koroga had assumed stood at the lip of a sizeable crater that had been blown into the Titan's front lawn. Since the Titans seemed to be shocked into utter silence, Enoch took it upon himself to fire the first shot.

"You! Dmitri, son of Azrael! We have been ordered by the high and mighty Tzarion Council to apprehend and charge you for crimes of high treason, open rebellion and consorting with known demons," here his gaze fell upon Raven and Shadow, his contempt not veiled in the slightest, "as well as the charge of attempting to persuade other angels, in this case the Aquila known as Alicia, to join your cause! Surrender now and come peacefully, and we can guarantee you that none of your friends here will be harmed. Resist, and we will deal with them all using extreme prejudice, especially those two demons I can smell from all the way over here."

‌Actually, Enoch," Koroga broke in, a sly smile on his face, "before you start throwing around labels, you should know that that child is not a demon, but is in fact the one true Vampangel himself. I suggest you show him the respect he deserves."

"You aren't helping, old man," Enoch shot back venomously. Turning back to Dmitri, he continued his scripted speech.

"How do you plead, heretic? Be advised," he concluded with an edge to his voice, "I don't think you'd want to end up like your mother, fighting until the bitter end before we finally had to just cut her head clean off of her shoulders to silence her pathetic whining." There was a vicious smirk in Enoch's tone and on his face as he finished, plunging a knife into Dmitri's heart and twisting it before he wrenched it back out again.

Dmitri knew he was being baited, that this bastard was trying to draw the Fallen Angel into making the first blow and giving him a legitimate reason to kill Dmitri in cold blood. Only problem was, it was working. He felt rage rise up like a terrible swell from the bottom of his soul, threatening to swallow him whole. Dmitri wanted nothing more than to feel his hands around this wretch's throat, crushing the life out of him, and that scared him. He didn't necessarily _want_ to become a cold-blooded killer, and as much as he told himself it was just a vendetta and nothing more, he had truly enjoyed the rush he had gotten from the battles he had fought against the Titans. The rush of adrenaline, the blood pounding in his veins, it felt good. Like it was what he was _born_ for.

Before he even knew what he was doing his pupils had gone white and become slits, his wings spreading out and turning a darker shade of red, almost blackish, like blood robbed of its oxygen. Dmitri raised his hand and leveled a tremendous bolt of energy right through Enoch's chest, leaving a gaping hole of an exit wound. All of the Titans were shocked at this outburst, while Koroga just looked amused by the whole thing. Enoch gazed down at his wound.

"Huh…" he said, "interesting display of strength, heathen. You clearly are your father's son."

The angel clenched his fists and focused, and to everyone's surprise but Dmitri and Koroga's, the tissue and organs began to grow back quickly, until after only a few moments there was no evidence that Dmitri's attack had even happened, and Enoch didn't look tired in the slightest from having expended that much energy.

"It seems we'll have to do this the hard way, then," Enoch concluded, cracking his knuckles and settling into a fighting stance while the Titans got over their shock and did the same, everyone tense and waiting for the first move, "although I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been looking forward to draining the blood from your veins, Dmitri. I'm sure your father's waiting for you somewhere out there in the void, don't you want to join him?"

That was all he could take. Rushing forward and pushed to the heights of battle frenzy by his rage, Dmitri lunged out and struck at Enoch with his sword once, twice, three times, all lightning fast blows. His opponent dodged all of these though, and drove Dmitri flying backwards with a punch to the chin that would have taken the head clean off of a normal human. The Fallen Angel hit the ground and groaned, knocked for a loop by the punch he had received and clearly not getting up any time soon. The Titans knew they needed to do something; as soon as these guys finished off Dmitri they were going to gun for Shadow and Raven, which the Titans just couldn't allow.

Shadow leapt out to his friend's defense before anyone else had a chance to react, furious that Dmitri had been goaded so cruelly into striking the first blow. Soon enough he had ascended into his vampangel form, the white angel and black demon wings sprouting from his back. His cobra staff flew faster than anyone had ever seen it strike, and Enoch was clearly having trouble keeping up. In a matter of moments Ichijyo had landed five spine-cracking blows in quick succession, with such force that even Koroga cringed slightly. Enoch only had one defense left, so he unleashed his ace-in-the-hole. As Shadow raised his weapon high to deliver the final blow, he saw himself looking down at a face he hadn't seen in the flesh in years, and he stopped cold.

It was Misha's face, the face of his dead, lost love.

As much as Shadow knew it was a trick, as much as he willed his hands silently to move, to brain this foul beast who chose to desecrate Misha's memory in such a way, his heart had stopped and he couldn't bring himself to land to finishing blow against the image of his lost love. Koroga bowed his head in sadness, ashamed that Enoch had sunk to such lows to achieve his victory. The Titans were too stunned to move, and they merely stared dumbly, waiting to see what would happen.

All of a sudden time, which seemed to have frozen, sped back up. Unfortunately, Shadow didn't speed up with it. Enoch drove his own sword straight through Shadow's heart, re-assuming his own form and smirking with satisfaction as Ichijyo could only fall to his knees, vomit a brief stream of blood, and collapse. A pool of blood began to form under him. His wings fell limp.

Enoch rose, spat on his enemy's body, and awaited his foe's response with a deadly calm. Raven sprinted over to Shadow's form and collapsed, sobbing, not even paying attention to anything else going on around her but Ichijyo's crumpled body and her own crippling grief. Enoch was about to end Raven's existence in a way similar to Shadow's own death, but a roar of the purest hatred and rage distracted the angel from taking yet another life.

Draco had watched Shadow with a numb shock, utter disbelief that something like that had actually _happened_. That shock, however, was thawed by rage and a suffocating sense of guilt. He had let down yet _another_ friend by his inaction. First Tazuka, now Shadow. As Enoch held his sword aloft over Raven, intent on repeating his crime, something inside the Dragon Knight snapped and he rushed out to face the bastard head-on like a raging bull. No more of his friends would die under his watch, he told himself, not if he had anything to say about it.

But this wasn't the only change that had occurred in Draco. His eyes had blazed a radiant white before changing to a red tone. His uniform had been replaced by classic samurai armor made of midnight-black carbon steel with bone veins running through it and two gruesome fangs embossed onto the center of the armor. The shoulder plates of the armor each had a huge spike curving out of the top of it, long enough to impale a body on if the wearer of the armor wished it. His legs were clad in greaves that were a reverse of his chest armor, bone with veins of carbon steel running through them. It was his actual physical appearance, though, that had undergone the most drastic of changes.

He wasn't exactly _human _at this point. He was now a being known only as an Orphenoch, an ultra-rare class of mutant. His feet were now lion's paws with hooked, black claws as long as a grown man's fingers. His hands had changed to become lion's paws, with claws of a similarly frightening magnitude. His face, though, was truly terrifying. It was a humanoid face, but with the features of a lion as well; he had a mane that flowed down past his shoulders and pure blood-red orbs for eyes without any discernible irises or pupils. His canines were longer than a normal human's or vampire's, suitable for rending the flesh off of unfortunate prey in huge chunks. To complete the image of fearsome war machine, two ram horns grew from Draco's forehead, curving slightly at the top and pointy enough to gorge someone on. The Ifrit Orphenoch had arisen from its slumber, and it was _royally_ pissed off.

In no time at all the creature was upon Enoch, snarling with rage and slashing brutally with its claws, aiming to kill. The wretched angel never had a chance in hell. Chunks of flesh and streams of blood arced up from the spastic and dying body, which jerked sporadically as the nerves in the brain shut down from pain overload. The Ifrit Orphenoch had gotten to the point where it was tearing up its victim's neck into a pulpy mess before it was finally sated, roaring out in triumph as the body of its foe disintegrated into ash.

Everyone was absolutely stunned, to put it lightly.

"What…" began Pluto

"In the HELL…" continued Blackfire

"WAS THAT?!" finished Cyborg.

"DUDE!!" Beast Boy shouted, "He freaking ATE THE GUY'S THROAT!!!"

Jinx could only stare dumbly at the grizzly scene before her eyes. "Ryuki…?" she whispered out pathetically, looking like she was about to faint.

A few moments later the stunned silence was broken by Draco's de-transformation. The Dragon-Knight looked at his blood-soaked hands in shock, terrified that he could have done such a thing, or that he could have enjoyed it so much. Unable to hold his gut in check the Knight vomited, adding to the stench of rot and decay. Draco hobbled over towards the Titans slightly before collapsing to his knees, overwhelmed and sickened to his core at what he had done. Jinx rushed over to his side in an instant, and amidst all of the recent shocks Robin had no idea what problem to attend to first. Fortunately for him, Koroga had decided to take action and save the Titans some trouble.

"Move!" he shouted at Raven, who only looked up at his dumbly. Koroga sighed and shoved her out of the way telekinetically before kneeling over Ichijyo, inspecting his wound.

"The blade was blessed to eradicate demon-kind… half of him has been nigh-obliterated by this stroke, but I might yet be able to save him…"

The Kitsune Lord channeled all of the energy he could into saving the Vampangel's life; he had been done in by a trick, a low and cowardly one at that, and Koroga knew that Ichijyo had a great role to play in the upcoming chaos. Soon enough the Vampangel surged, coughed and sputtered as life rushed back into him, his wings regaining strength and no longer hanging limply at the Knight's side. Shadow got up and dusted himself off before looking at the old man curiously, wondering why the hell he had saved him if he was supposed to be with Enoch. Dmitri, who had gotten up at this point and was supremely confused by all that had happened while he had been semi-unconscious, asked the Snake Knight's question for him.

"Who are you, sir, and why did you just save Ichijyo's life?"

"As to why I saved him, all that you need to know, _child_, is that I did not think it fit for someone of such stature as the Vampangel to die so underhandedly and ignominiously. And as for whom I am, my name is simply Koroga, and whatever titles it carries with it nowadays."

Dmitri prayed to all the gods above and below that he hadn't heard right. He turned to Terra.

"He didn't just say _Koroga_, did he?"

"I think he did… why?"

"Because," Dmitri responded, "that mean's we're all royally screwed. That guy," here he pointed at the being in question, "is a Kyuubi-No-Kitsune, a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Lord. Do you have _any_ idea what that means?"

No one reacted in any special way save Pluto, whose jaw dropped straight to the floor.

"A Kitsune? Are you _joking_? Those things aren't even supposed to exist!"

"Well, to some people aliens don't exist, nor do angels or demons or any of that sort of thing," Dmitri responded, his tone surprisingly cool, "so I guess you could say, Takada, that believability is all relative. Right now, we have bigger issues to worry about. Rather than be concerned with whether or not the being right in front of you actually exists, you should be thinking about a way to stop it from killing us!"

Pluto recoiled slightly, but saw the wisdom in Dmitri's words, especially after the old man transformed into a 100-foot-tall, nine-tailed demon-fox who looked more than ready to crack skulls. The Titans all rallied together, bracing themselves for the fight of their lives. They were quite surprised, then, when the Kitsune chose to start speaking rather than kill them all at once.

"Before we begin, I would just like to say that I bear none of you ill will or rancor in any way. I fight only for the preservation of my clan, and nothing more. I just hope you all will understand that this is nothing personal, and is strictly business." His voice was the storms and the winds, the raging flames and the thunder and lightning, for he was their lord and master. All of the Titans were awed by this godly presence and even Ekelo, who had shown up just as Koroga had transformed, was speechless.

Dmitri stepped forward.

"With all due respect, my Lord," he said, almost getting down on one knee out of compulsion but controlling himself, "if you have no rancor towards us, as you have said, and have demonstrated good intentions by healing our friend Shadow, why is it that you insist upon destroying us nonetheless?"

An expression of sorrow crossed the god's face as he spoke, his tone low and sad.

"There was a time," he began, "when I swore allegiance to the Empyrean, after I had been defeated and imprisoned three times by its armies. I had a sense of honor, and I knew when I was beaten. But I did not swear my loyalty to the men and women who had brought me down, I pledged fealty to the _ideals_ that the Empyrean embodied at that time. My clan followed where I led, and we were peaceful for a time.

"But it came to pass over a few millennia that those who were in power became corrupted by it, as all base creatures eventually do. The Tzarion Council rose to the top of the pack, and they began to exert their influence in force. Eventually, they caught my tribe unawares and, because almost all of my clan is far younger than I, they were imprisoned with ancient spells and held under lock and key, leverage so that I would not disobey and orders given to me by those mongrels on the Council."

Everyone felt a certain degree of pity for the Fox God; it was impossible not to. He didn't want to be in this situation any more than the Titans did, but extenuating circumstances had forced him into it against his will. He only fought to protect his clan, to do what he thought was right.

The Kitsune's expression changed abruptly as his silver eyes fell upon Draco, who tensed up immediately and would have wet himself if he could have. But Draco knew he had nothing to fear as the demon-fox began to… laugh?

"Yaminekoryu-kun," Koroga said, sounding surprised, "is that you in there?"

Yaminekoryu's voice issued from Draco's mouth.

"H…Hai, Koroga-sama. It's been a while."

Yaminekoryu sounded almost… timid, and everyone was surprised. He was a powerful demon who was almost always calm, this was certainly a change.

"You were sealed?" Koroga thought this most amusing, apparently. "I'd rather talk to you face-to-face, old-friend, so let's loosen this seal for a moment, shall we?"

Koroga spoke low and powerfully, chanting in an ancient tongue. After a few moments Draco started glowing a bright red, and after that a flash occurred that blinded the onlookers. When the red flash dissipated, everyone could only stare in shock. Yaminekoryu stood on the grass, in the flesh. The demon looked around in shock, blinking and trying to get used to the sunlight that he hadn't seen in so long.

"I… I'm free?" Yaminekoryu was stunned.

"Not quite," Koroga responded, "the seal has just been loosened enough to give you physical form, for now. I'd like to chat with you for a while, old friend, before I am forced to battle your master and his friends. I haven't had a civilized conversation with anyone in quite some time."

"Arigato, Koroga-sama," Yaminekoryu smiled, revealing his fangs. He stretched a bit to get used to having his body again and breathed in a bit of fresh air. "Sugoi…it's so nice to be able to move, to feel the breeze again after so long!" His tail wagged a bit, and he turned to look at the Titans. "Sumimasen, aibou, I would like to take Koroga-sama up on his oh-so-generous offer. Think you take care of yourself for a bit without me?"

As the two very, very old friends went to have a private chat with each other, the Titans discussed what had happened. Was Koroga hostile or not?

Cyborg scratched the organic part of his head, "Um…What just happen? I thought he was supposed to kill us or something?"

Dmitri shook his head slightly and replied. "Koroga never meant to harm us. He was just forced into a position he never wanted to be in."

Draco chimed in with his opinion on the weirdness as well, "Kami, that felt weird. I've always had Yaminekoryu inside me and having him out of my head makes me feel…I can't really describe it."

Jinx, on the other hand, was just happy that one of her long-standing questions had just been answered "So, THAT'S what he looks like," she said with satisfaction. Jinx had always heard Draco talking to Yaminekoryu, and he had told her about the demon inside of him, but the witch had never actually seen him until now. To see an Oni (ogre) / Bakeneko (cat demon) hybrid was rare indeed, and the witch was fascinated by the chance to observe such a being.

Raven studied Yaminekoryu's features intently, with an eye trained for looking at magical beings and demons. He looked very human, but that was only if you discounted his claws, his tail, his cat ears and his rather large horns. He didn't seem particularly evil or hostile at the moment, but there was still a distinct yet weak aura of evil around him. Raven's eyes narrowed. Maybe the faintness of the aura was because he had been sealed inside Draco for so long, but she resolved to keep an eye on him nonetheless. How he was able to hide from her senses when he was sealed within Draco still puzzled her, though.

Shadow just narrowed his eyes. The reality, and peril, of the situation hadn't left his mind for a moment. Although he owed Koroga for saving his life, and as such he felt bound by honor to spare his also if it came to that during battle, he could sense the powerful aura out of the Kyuubi No Kitsune and it was frightening. It was as strong as Trigon's aura, possibly even stronger. Shadow only hoped that the Kitsune would not fight at full strength, or they did not have a prayer in hell.

"Although Koroga is to be our enemy, he does not seem hostile at all. He appears friendly yet conflicted," Starfire said.

"I wouldn't go THAT far, sis," Blackfire said. "He wants to fight us and kill us so whatever the reason, even if it _is_ to save his people, we have to defend ourselves." Starfire nodded sadly, knowing she was right but not liking the fact that she would have to fight such a noble creature one bit.

"We could strike now, while he's busy," Pluto said, analyzing Koroga with his visor, "But his power levels are god-like, with good reason. It won't do much."

"And it would also be craven and underhanded," Dmitri retorted. "The Kitsune saved Shadow's life and is giving us a chance to prepare ourselves rather than killing us outright. We will repay his actions in kind, with an honorable battle."

Beast Boy decided to add something, for better or worse: "Hey guys, I got a question."

"What is it, beast Boy?" Robin snapped back, slightly irritated although it was mostly nerves talking.

"What does 'rancor' mean, anyway?"

Everyone present sighed wearily. Pluto explained what the word meant while everyone else braced themselves one last time for the enormous fight ahead of them.

* * *

Kamen Rider Chrome: This was all he wrote, unfortunately, before I lost contact with him :(


End file.
